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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24888568">Son of Sun and Metal</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarphasChappers/pseuds/MarphasChappers'>MarphasChappers</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/NicholasFlamelFan/pseuds/NicholasFlamelFan'>NicholasFlamelFan</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Of Ideas and Collections (The Alchemy Lab) [33]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Percy Jackson and the Olympians &amp; Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Annabeth Chase Bashing, Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), Child of Apollo (Percy Jackson), Demigods, F/M, Grover (Percy Jackson) is a Good Friend, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Mentions of kidnapping, Minor Tony Stark/Apollo (Percy Jackson), Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Warning: Obadiah Stane, implied eating disorder</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 01:02:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>28,273</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24888568</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarphasChappers/pseuds/MarphasChappers, https://archiveofourown.org/users/NicholasFlamelFan/pseuds/NicholasFlamelFan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy had the help of another demigod, a demigod who just happens to be the son of Tony Stark. Damon and Percy became good friends of the course of the school year at Yancy but towards the end, Damon changed. </p><p>With Tony Stark missing, what will happen if his son joins Percy on his adventures?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dionysus &amp; Original Male Character(s), Grover Underwood &amp; Original Male Character(s), Pepper Potts &amp; Original Male Character(s), Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Percy Jackson/Original Male Character(s), Tony Stark &amp; Original Male Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Of Ideas and Collections (The Alchemy Lab) [33]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1399345</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>110</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The story started like every other demigod’s story at Camp Half-Blood.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ever since he was five-years-old Damon Stark – although most people knew him by the name of Damon Carter for her father’s godmother, Peggy Carter – had spent his summers at Camp Half-Blood. It was his salvation and his curse at the same time. He barely got along with a handful of people and it hurt. Damon had always been very similar to his father. The kids here at Camp didn’t really understand him. He was as good with machinery as the Hephaestus children and smarter than some of the Athena kids. Of course, that made him a bit of an outsider already. Adding to that, was that he didn’t really know how to act around people. When he tried to make connections, it was already too late, so he stayed for himself, hiding in the Big House whenever he felt overwhelmed by the number of people around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon had turned out to be a bit of a special case since he had both a dad and a father. Well, a mortal Dad. Apollo had been in his female form when he… she met Tony Stark. Long story short, Apollo got pregnant, gave birth to Damon and handed him off without even staying long enough to see what would happen. He had a couple of half-siblings in the same situation where Apollo was their mother rather than their father but out of all of them, they were the clear minority.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At the time of his birth, Tony had still been pretty young, so he put Damon in the system, hoping that he would have a better life without him. Damon wasn’t sure but he thought that Obadiah Stane, Tony’s godfather had a hand in convincing Tony that it was the right thing to do. The man had never liked the Stark heir. Although their relationship soured even more when Damon found out about Obadiah’s plans. From that moment on, Damon had tried to stay as far away from the man as possible without having much luck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon had been in the orphanage until he was four and Tony’s new PA found out about him. Pepper had convinced Tony that he should take Damon in and that she would help him if he wanted it. Ever since then, the three of them have been living in the Malibu mansion with Damon learning as much as he could from Tony when it came to engineering and just everything that Tony thought he needed to know. Damon even helped a little with developing Jarvis – of course, his part was relatively small but Tony always praised him for the smallest things, striving to be different from his own father.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon let out a small sigh, looking around. He had always felt like a bit of an outsider but he couldn’t blame the others either. After all, growing up in the mansion with hardly any contact with people other than adults made Damon a bit of a loner and he was happier that way. He could work on all the projects he wanted without anyone annoying him about them or asking questions.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, Damon,” Chiron smiled pleasantly when the boy walked in “Now we can begin.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why am I here, Chiron?” Damon frowned, raising an eyebrow at the company. Mr D was lounging in a chair with his usual hideous shirt, a very nervous Satyr next to him. Damon was sure he knew him from somewhere…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr D let out a grunt, looking to be in quite a bad mood. Not that it was anything new for him “That’s what I’d like to know. I still say that we should send Grover in alone.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chiron sighed “Mr D, think about it. If this demigod is who we suspect… then I believe that Damon could be a big help. He’s been here the longest and is one of the most experienced fighters at camp.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon groaned quietly. Of course. He remembered the Satyr now. He was the one who went to get Thalia, Annabeth and Luke in what was known as the most fucked up quest they had in the last decade “Why me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dionysus stared at him through bloodshot eyes “Because you’re one of our best archers and you’re more than decent with a sword as well. Plus, you’ve been here for seven years already and are obviously still alive. At least that’s what Chiron has been telling me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That sounded suspiciously like a compliment,” Damon teased, leaning back in his chair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dionysus rolled his eyes “Don’t get used to it, Carter.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon playfully raised his hand to his heart “You remember my name, uncle? I’m touched.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Brat,” D snorted, rolling his eyes. There weren’t many people who talked to him like that around here and normally, he would get annoyed at the snot-nosed brats but Damon was different. He had done what Dionysus hadn’t thought possible. The little brat actually found a way around his restrictions and was quietly supplying him with alcohol whenever he was around. Damon was one of the few demigods that Dionysus actually liked. He could easily keep up with him and liked to get into a verbal battle once in a while. Not many people would think of indulging him like that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Admit it. You actually like me,” Damon grinned cheekily before making his way to the fridge, rooting around for a beer. He twisted the top off and handed it over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chiron cleared his throat awkwardly, trying not to look reproachful. Dionysus had actually been better to be around after Damon found the loophole. Apparently, the boy understood more about the god than even Zeus did which was really sad “So… Will you do it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon shrugged “If the Satyr had no problem with me coming and I can convince my parents to send me to whatever school you want me in… Why not?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then that’s sorted. You’ll be going to Yancy Academy in New York,” Chiron pointed out, shooing Damon out along with Grover.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Outside, Damon glanced at the pale Satyr who hadn’t said a word yet and held out his hand with a sigh “Damon.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“G-Grover,” he stuttered, shaking the boy’s hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I guess I’ll see you around. I better call to get the school thing sorted out,” Damon sighed, tugging at his hair lightly. He wasn’t actually sure what kind of school Yancy Academy was but he guessed that it wasn’t a good one. Not that it mattered to him. It wouldn’t be on his actual school records since he was in the process of finishing his high school diploma under his real name. He was maybe a year out from graduating, so as long as he had his own projects with him, it wouldn’t make much of a difference to Pepper. At least, he thought so.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Potts</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Pepper’s stressed voice greeted Damon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon smiled lightly, walking into the forest “Pep? It’s me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Damon, sweetie. Is something wrong?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” she asked, her voice holding concern for him. Damon didn’t normally call while he was at Camp, so this was setting off alarm bells in her head. He was Tony’s son after all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, no,” he assured her quickly “Chiron just told me that I am supposed to go on a retrieval next school year.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pepper frowned “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Why? They don’t normally send kids, do they</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No. But this one is a bit of a special case, apparently,” Damon told her with a sigh “I need you to enrol me at Yancy Academy…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>JARVIS. Look up the school, please.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Right away, Miss Potts</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Jarvis said as images and profiles appeared on the screen in front of Pepper.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stared at the information for a moment before a noise left her mouth “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Troubled kids, Damon. Really?</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon winced and rubbed the back of his neck “Well... I mean, you always did say I was trouble.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Damon, you really want to go there?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Pepper asked “</span>
  <em>
    <span>While you’re pretty much finished with your schooling, this is not going to be challenging for you in the slightest</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have a couple of my own project I wanted to work on,” Damon explained “It’ll be fine, Pepper. I think I can manage a year of boringness to help someone.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pepper let out a sigh “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Alright, kid. I’ll take care of it and send you the details.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” Damon told her before turning around when the horn for dinner sounded “Sorry, I have to go now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Sure</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Pepper laughed “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Don’t forget to call me and your father occasionally.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll try, Pepper. Bye.” Damon hung up before sprinting towards the dining pavilion to grab some food.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Showing off Ninja Skillz</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>With the school year almost over, Damon was happy to note that he hadn’t gotten into trouble more than twice. Both times were when he was experimenting with something that just happened to blow up in his face. Not the big explosions that had taken out more than one wall back home but just little tiny ones that destroyed whatever he had been working on and maybe blackened the table a tiny little bit.</p><p>At first, he hadn’t been too sure how to act around Percy and Grover because he never really tried to get along with children his age before. It took the three a while but now, they were getting along swimmingly. Grover had been quite surprised to find out that Damon was easily one of the smartest people in the entire school – if not the smartest. Whenever Damon decided he needed to info dump, both Percy and Grover were lost within seconds. One advantage of having to listen to Damon going on and on about things that neither of them understood was that he helped them with whatever homework they needed help with. Not that Percy actually remembered most of the lessons but he appreciated the fact that Damon was trying.</p><p>Percy had been curious about the other boy at first but quickly realised that Damon wouldn’t be telling them anything he didn’t want them to know, so he stopped asking questions. It was only a matter of time in his opinion until Damon would trust him. Even if he didn’t, Percy liked Damon enough to stay friends with him no matter what.</p><p>It was May when the school decided it was a great idea to have the sixth-grade class going on a field trip. Twenty-nine ‘difficult’ students with two teachers on a school bus heading towards the Metropolitan Museum of Art. What could possibly go wrong? Normally, Damon wouldn’t be cursing anything but he didn’t even need to do anything this time. The whole thing was doomed to go to shit before it even started.</p><p>Damon already knew the museum inside out. He had been going there ever since he was six and old enough to go to New York with Tony and Pepper. Happy – Tony’s driver and bodyguard and occasionally Damon’s babysitter – was the one who had to endure the kid on those visits. Not that he minded. Happy had taken to Damon quickly and actually enjoyed being around him with how similar Tony and Damon were. Although, like most people, he could admit that Damon was less obnoxious.</p><p>No matter how boring classes at Yancy had been the entire year, Damon had high hoped for this one. Chiron – or Mr Brunner as he was calling himself here – was their Latin teacher and could make the most boring topics interesting. The centaur joined them at the school around Christmas since they hadn’t been sure how to handle Percy. With the added trouble of the theft at the Winter Solstice, it was probably better that he was here to give Percy some added protection.</p><p>On the bus, Damon was forced to sit upfront with the teachers because Mrs Dodds had accused him of cheating on his Maths exam. Not that he needed to… He had gotten an Ay having handed it in barely twenty minutes after the start of the exam. It had been pretty easy for him. After all, Maths, Science and everything to do with programming and grease he could do no problem. The only thing he actually had to work for was English and everything to do with reading and writing long texts.</p><p>His father hadn’t had too much time for him when he was younger but if they managed to bond over something, it was their love for building things. Damon helped with upgrading Dum-E and he actually built his own robot SAM – Supreme Android Machine – with only the barest minimum of help from Tony.</p><p>Damon sighed, leaning his head against the window, trying to focus on the music coming out of his headphones. A part of him was happy that the school year was almost over with and the only thing still missing was the confrontation with the big bad monster that has been hiding in the school for almost the entire year. Mrs Dodds was certainly weird enough to be some kind of monster. A tiny woman who was always dressed in a leather jacket. Had Damon been anyone else, he would have said she was just a normal, eccentric old woman but he wasn’t anyone else. That and nothing could ever be this easy. Not for demigods.</p><p>It took five minutes for Chiron to tug at the cord of Damon’s headphones, yanking the earbuds out. He raised his eyebrows at Damon “You didn’t actually cheat, did you? That doesn’t seem like you at all.”</p><p>“That’s because I didn’t,” Damon shrugged, reaching to put one earbud back in “You know that I’m good with Maths. I really don’t need to cheat on some stupid sixth-grade test.”</p><p>Chiron shot him a reprimanding glare when Mrs Dodds glanced over at them “Damon,” he warned “Respect.”</p><p>“Sorry,” Damon sighed. Sometimes it felt like Chiron tried to parent him and while he didn’t mind the occasional input, Damon was getting a little annoyed at Chiron’s interference with his schooling this year. It wasn’t as if he didn’t already know most of the stuff, so what did it matter whether he paid attention or not. Then again, he kept forgetting that only Dionysus really knew who he was at Camp.</p><p>Chiron looked at him for a long moment before he nodded, letting Damon go back to his music. It was something the child had been doing almost since he came to camp. Whether it was writing songs, singing or simply listening to other artists. Music seemed to be a huge part of his life and Chiron was sure he didn’t even know half of it.</p><hr/><p>Damon helped the driver in getting Chiron’s wheelchair out of the bus before he joined Percy and Grover at the back of the group “Er… Grover?” he spoke up carefully, eyeing the bread stuck in his curly hair “Why do you have sandwich pieces stuck in your hair?” Damon reached out to pick out the lunch while Percy was mumbling about how he should have hit her when he had the chance “Nancy?”</p><p>“She’s a terror.” Why can’t she just leave us alone?” Percy complained.</p><p>Damon shrugged “Because she’s a bully. At least you probably won’t have to deal with her next year.”</p><p>“Thank God,” he sighed in relief, glaring at the red-haired girl.</p><p>Damon put a hand on his arm, squeezing lightly “You have to calm down. You’re in enough trouble as it is.” And how right that was. The principal had warned Percy to behave as he was close to being kicked out of the school even with the school year almost finished. Damon chewed on his lip. He would probably take the offer and finish his high school diploma with the help of a tutor the next year. The only thing he needed a bit of help with was the dyslexia because he couldn’t rely on Jarvis reading him things all the time. Not even when he translated it for him.</p><p>Percy’s shoulders slumped “I’m probably gonna need you two to stop me before I do something I’m going to regret.”</p><p>“Like you always do,” Damon teased, poking Percy’s side.</p><p>Chiron led the museum tour. He rode up from with his wheelchair, guiding the class through the huge galleries, past marble statues of gods and Greek legends. Chiron stepped in front of a thirteen-foot-tall statue, the rest of the class gathering around him.</p><p>Damon bowed his head in respect after recognising the sphinx on the statue with various carving of her adventures on the sides. He listened to Chiron with half an ear, thinking about how lucky he was. Not many demigods lived on in the memory of mortals. The majority of them died and no one but the Campers cared – sometimes not even them. The life of a demigod was the saddest of existences. They could never be sure whether they would survive another year or not. Damon wasn’t sure how he would go on. He was the heir to Stark Industries but would he live long enough to make an impression on the public? He had already designed several phones and tablets that were far ahead of everything on the market but since SI was a weapons’ manufacturer it wasn’t likely to be used anytime soon. The cell phone he was using was one of his own designs and as safe from monsters as any. The satellite the service was running over was private and only Pepper, Tony and Damon had access to it.</p><p>“Will you shut up?” Percy hissed, startling Damon out of his thoughts. He hadn’t even noticed that the group behind him had been whispering and making fun of the statues.</p><p>Chiron stopped short, causing the whole group to start laughing “Mr Jackson,” he spoke up, narrowing his eyes on the boy “Did you have anything to add?”</p><p>Percy’s face flushed a vibrant tomato red “No, sir,” he mumbled, hitting Damon’s shoulder when he snorted.</p><p>“Perhaps you’ll tell us what this picture represents?” Chiron turned, pointing at one of the carvings behind him.</p><p>“That’s Kronos eating his kids, right?” Percy asked after a beat of silence.</p><p>Damon groaned internally. Of course, it was. Every. Single. Time. He hated that stupid carving and the whole things. Then again, he was glad that it hadn’t been him. Being eaten must have sucked royally.</p><p>“Yes,” Chiron nodded, not quite satisfied with the answer quite yet “And he did that because…”</p><p>“Kronos was the king god and –”</p><p>Damon winced “Titan,” he hissed under his breath, knowing fully well that Chiron would be able to hear him.</p><p>“Titan,” Percy corrected, smiling at Damon thankfully “And he didn’t trust his kids who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos into barfing up his brothers and sisters.”</p><p>Damon couldn’t quite hide the laughter that wanted to spill over his lips. The more he heard that story – no matter how disgusting – the funnier it got. Not the being eaten part. Or the vomiting part. That was kind of gross but the fact that someone could confuse a baby with a rock was just ridiculous.</p><p>“Do you have anything to add, Mr Carter?” Chiron raised an eyebrow.</p><p>“Just one question. Or maybe two… First of all, how do you confuse a baby with a rock?” He paused, licking his lips “And secondly, did the rock hit anyone inside? It must have been pretty weird when a rock bashes someone on the head without context. I mean, really…” He couldn’t help himself and hopefully, no one too powerful was watching this. Being incinerated wasn’t that high on his list.</p><p>The rest of the class snickered while Chiron just glared at Damon before he sighed “Mrs Dodds, would you lead us outside for lunch?” he asked when the class didn’t calm down after a couple of minutes.</p><p>Percy, Grover and Damon were about to follow the rest of the class outside when Chiron called Percy back. Damon and Grover exchanged a look before turning to Percy “You guys go ahead,” he told them.</p><hr/><p>Grover and Damon were waiting for Percy to come out, sitting on a fountain not too far from the entrance of the museum. While Grover was stuffing food into his face, Damon let his gaze wander around.</p><p>When his eyes trailed past an alley across the street, he froze. Stane.</p><p>“What do you think they’re talking about?” Grover asked through a mouth full of food.</p><p>Damon swallowed a couple of times, looking away from the alley “No clue. Probably Chiron being cryptic and Percy freaking out internally.”</p><p>‘<strong>Come here. Now, Damon.</strong>’</p><p>His eyes flickered up from the phone and back to the alley, looking from Stane to the entrance and back. He knew that he would be in trouble when Chiron got back and he wasn’t there but what was he supposed to do?</p><p>Stane had threatened more than once to hurt Pepper if Damon didn’t do what he wanted. After he found out about the illegal weapon sales, Stane had more than made sure that Damon wouldn’t tell anyone in more ways than one. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell anyone but Damon was scared. Not for himself but for Pepper and his dad. While he was sure that Stane wouldn’t hurt Tony – it was way too obvious should anything happen to him – he didn’t have any qualms of hurting Damon.</p><p>Stane clenched his fists when it looked like Damon would ignore him. The boy wasn’t known to the public as Tony Stark’s son and that was what saved Stane. He could influence the child as much as he was able to and no one would notice. Well, no one had noticed yet. Since it was time for phase two of the plan, he needed to make sure the boy knew what would happen, should he disobey. The easiest thing would have been to just make him disappear but he knew that it would draw Tony’s attention and he couldn’t have that.</p><p>On the other side of the road, Damon let out a soft sigh “I – I need to go to the bathroom,” he mumbled “I’ll be right back, okay?”</p><p>“Sure,” Grover hummed, burying back into the food he had brought.</p><p>Damon glanced around, making his way towards the entrance door of the museum before fainting to the side and slipping across the road. He was barely within reach of the alley when someone grabbed him and pulled him out of sight. A groan escaped him when he hit the wall with a dull thud.</p><p>“Hello, boy,” Stane smirked, looming over Damon. One of his hands was resting on Damon’s shoulder, wrapping around his neck with how big it was “I think we need to have a talk.”</p><p>Damon shifted, his eyes darting from Stane’s face to the ground and back “Why?”</p><p>“I found something very interesting the other day,” Stane announced, narrowing his eyes in anger. He couldn’t believe the boy’s nerve when he saw the files one of his techs showed him “Did you really think I wouldn’t find the files you tried to hide, hm?”</p><p>“What?” Damon frowned, trying to look as if he had no idea what the man was talking about “I don’t…”</p><p>Stane sneered, throwing Damon to the ground “Don’t try. I think a little reminder is necessary, don’t you?”</p><p>“What are you…?” Damon trailed off when three men stepped out of the shadows behind him.</p><p>“Deal with him,” Stane told them, gesturing to Damon who was still on the ground “But be careful. Don’t want to kill him. For now.”</p><p>Damon rolled back, avoiding the first punch that was thrown at him, getting to his feet in a slightly uncoordinated move. He had hit his head on the wall when Stane slammed him into it and it caused him to be the slightest bit off-kilter.</p><p>His eyes darted around, ducking the punches as much as he could and trying to keep an eye on all the men at all times. They were trained. Three against one, no matter how good of a fighter Damon was, he was still only half their size at most. Using every advantage he could get, he managed to knock out two of the men after taking more than a few hits.</p><p>“What are you doing?” Stane hissed, making to move up behind Damon.</p><p>Damon turned, trying to keep an eye on both Stane and the remaining man when the later attacked. He barely dodged out of the way in time as the man’s fist missed his face by inches. The fight continued for a few more minutes before Damon felt his legs being swept out from under him. He had forgotten about Stane again but before he could curse himself for the rookie mistake, the man was on top of him.</p><p>“Leave him,” Stane commanded, crouching down next to Damon “You don’t play with me, little boy or you’ll regret the day you crossed me.”</p><p>Damon spat out the mouthful of blood, hitting Obadiah’s shoes “I already do,” he muttered, crying out when the man stood, stomping on his arm before kicking his already hurting ribs.</p><p>“Not a word to anyone, brat,” Stane snapped, tilting the boy’s head up.</p><p>“Yes, sir,” Damon pressed out through gritted teeth, letting out a groan when he dropped back to the ground.</p><hr/><p>“Damon,” Chiron called, rolling over to the alley. He had left Mrs Kerr in charge as soon as the mist shifted and Mrs Dodds disappeared. Whatever Damon saw in the alley, he had looked nervous and that didn’t bode well for Chiron. Whether it was another monster or something else, he didn’t know. He wasn’t too impressed with Damon for running off on his own, though and in his mind, he was already devising a suitable punishment for when they get back to Camp.</p><p>All those thoughts left his mind when he finally saw the figure leaning against the dirty wall of the alley. His face was bloody and bruises were starting to form on the left side of his face. Chiron quickly rolled over, leaning forward to check Damon’s pulse. Just before he could touch him, though, Damon flinched away from him, groaning when his head bounced off the wall “Chiron?” he mumbled, cracking his eyes open.</p><p>“What the hell were you thinking?” Chiron demanded quietly, concerned eyes sweeping over his charge. He closed his eyes for a moment before making a decision. Percy was due to come out of the museum after his first fight every moment and was most likely freaking out. Chiron couldn’t trust Grover not to mess this up, so he needed Damon to be there as well “No, don’t answer that. We will be talking about this when we’re back at school. Can you get up?”</p><p>Damon bit his lips, wrapping his hurt arm around his ribs, carefully trying to get to his feet “I’m sorry, Chiron.”</p><p>“I will deal with this later,” Chiron told him, his eyes narrowed “I need you to make sure that Percy doesn’t suspect too much.”</p><p>Damon hesitated for a moment, wishing that Chiron would just ask… Not that Damon would tell him what actually happened but he hadn’t even asked. But it made sense to him that Percy came first. Since it seemed like he was the child the prophecy spoke off, he was more important “Yeah,” he mumbled, still pressing his arm to his chest. He limped after Chiron before making his way over to where Grover was still sitting on the edge of the well.</p><p>“What – Damon, what the hell happened to you?” Grover asked, eyes widening at the state Damon was in. He pulled out a paper towel, holding it out “You’re bleeding.”</p><p>Damon shrugged, tugging the hood of his sweatshirt over his head with his good hand “I’m fine,” he lied.</p><p>“Damon…”</p><p>“Don’t,” he snapped, getting up from the stone he had just sat down on “Just… don’t.”</p><p>Grover watched as Damon made his way to the front steps of the museum, leaning against the bannister with his head down. The Satyr glanced over at Chiron before chewing on his lips.</p><p>Percy walked out of the museum as the rain started, sitting down next to Damon. He was trying to figure out what had happened and why the pen-that-wasn’t-a-pen was a pen again “Hey… Where’s Mrs Dodds?” he asked.</p><p>Damon moved his head a little to look at Percy “Who’s Mrs Dodds?” he asked.</p><p>“Holy shit,” Percy breathed when he saw Damon’s face “What the hell happened?”</p><p>“Just drop it, please,” Damon pleaded tiredly “I don’t want to talk about it.”</p><p>Percy shook his head, touching Damon’s shoulder gently “Damon, this is serious. If someone hurt…”</p><p>“Percy,” Damon cut him off “I really don’t want to talk about it. It’s fine.”</p><p>“No, it’s not,” Percy argued, tugging at Damon gently, steering his head down on his shoulder “But I guess I understand not wanting to talk about it.” With that, he started telling Damon what had just happened or at least what he thought happened.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. How To Make An Arse Out Of Yourself: Chiron Edition</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Damon spent the whole bus ride back to the school with his head leaning against the window and his arm pressed to his chest keeping both the arm and his ribs as stable as he could with the bumps in the road. He was biting down on his tongue more than once, trying not to show how much he was hurting. With Chiron as close to him as he was, he really didn’t want to be trouble. Not after what happened with Mrs Dodds and the fact that the gods were even more aware of Percy now. He could handle it on his own. He had done so more than once before.</p><p>The moment they reached the school, Damon disappeared back into their room before Chiron could even try to talk to him. The teacher let out a sigh and rubbed his head “Grover, could you go and tell Damon to come talk to me?”</p><p>Grover hesitated “What happened?”</p><p>“I’m trying to find out,” Chiron murmured, wheeling himself into the school as the rest of the students disappeared in the direction of the boarding houses.</p><p>“I’ll let him know,” Grover nodded before running over to join Percy.</p><hr/><p>The next morning, Damon woke up with his arm and ribs throbbing painfully. He glanced down and hissed at the deep purple-black colour of his wrist before slowly getting up. How was he supposed to run with his ribs and all the bruises? He looked at the other two sleeping boys before he rummaged through his bag, trying to find the bandages he had stashed there. During his experiments he tended to get hurt and as such his first-aid kit was as extensive as his father’s was. Once his arm was taken care of, he disappeared into the bathroom, studying the rest of his body in the mirror. Most of his upper body was riddled in bruises and his face looked like he had gotten brained by a baseball bat.</p><p>After cleaning himself up and wrapping his ribs as well as he could, he got dressed and packed his bag for the day. Just before he was about to leave the room, Grover spoke up sleepily “Chiron wants to see you. As soon as possible.”</p><p>“I don’t care,” Damon shot back, pulling the door closed behind him. The last thing he needed was Chiron meddling in his affairs. Had he asked the day before maybe Damon would have told him something but he was used to handling things on his own. All the adults in his life had their own problems so he tended to handle himself as much as he was able. Pepper had Tony to wrangle and if that wasn’t a full-time job, she had also helped to raise him. And Tony… He had so many responsibilities that Damon didn’t care to disturb him. The only person who knew about most of Damon’s problems was SAM and while he wasn’t as elaborate as Jarvis was, he was an AI and had about the same autonomy as Dum-E and U.</p><p>SAM was a work in progress and the more Damon learned, the more SAM advanced. He was trying to make a fully functioning AI that could converse just as much as Jarvis could but it was taking some time. Mostly because he was trying to do it on his own without the help of his father or anyone else. His progress was slow because his dyslexia was kicking his ass and everything that had been going on this year was an additional distraction.</p><p>Breakfast was over before he knew it and his classes were dragging. Percy and Grover had tried to talk to him more than once but Damon was trying to avoid talking about what happened. Mostly because he didn’t want Grover to slip up in front of Percy – at least that’s what he was trying to tell himself.</p><p>“Mr Carter. Please stay behind,” Chiron called just after the bell rang, signalling the end of his last lesson of the day. His eyes darted from the door to Chiron but he slumped back in his chair, tugging the sleeve of the sweatshirt he was wearing over his bandaged hand. As soon as the other students were gone, Chiron leaned forward in his wheelchair “You didn’t come to me yesterday.”</p><p>Damon shrugged, his eyes drifting to the window “I was asleep.”</p><p>“And this morning?” Chiron questioned, raising his eyebrow. He was trying to be patient but this was out of his comfort zone. Had it been a monster, there was no doubt in him that Damon would have told him. So, who had he seen? Who would hurt a teenager this badly?</p><p>Damon closed his eyes tiredly “I don’t want to talk about this, Chiron. It’s none of your business what happened.”</p><p>“I’m your teacher at this school and was the one who should have looked after you on that field trip,” Chiron reminded “Don’t tell me it’s none of my business.”</p><p>“It is none of your business,” Damon repeated, glaring at the centaur angrily “What happened had nothing to do with school or Camp, so no. I’m not going to tell you anything.”</p><p>Chiron clenched his hands around the handles of his wheelchair before he sighed and relaxed “Fine. You don’t want to talk, then don’t. You disappeared on a field trip which means that I’m going to have to punish you. Now, you can either tell me what happened to you or you’re going to come to detention every evening until we get back to Camp. We’ll talk about you taking over some of my classes when we get there.”</p><p>“What?” Damon asked.</p><p>Chiron shrugged “The choice is yours.”</p><p>Damon gritted his teeth and shot up from his chair. He ignored the protests of his body “You’re an ass,” he hissed before storming out of the room.</p><p>Before he was gone, he heard Chiron’s calm voice “I’ll see you tomorrow after class for your detention. Don’t be late.”</p><hr/><p>The next day, Damon just flopped down on his bed after classes. He really didn’t want to be anywhere near Chiron at the moment, so he was thinking of just skipping detention altogether. A part of him knew that it was a bad idea and he would most likely pay for it one way or another but he was so tired of everything. Tired of people asking, tired of Obadiah being an asshole and tired of Chiron riding his ass. He could probably lie and say that he got attacked by a monster but he never did like lying and it might already be too late for that. If he had gotten injured by a monster – technically Stane could be seen as one… Just a very human one compared to their normal problems – he would have told Chiron immediately and the man knew it.</p><p>He was about to drift off with Percy trying to study quietly at his desk when a furious knock sounded. Percy groaned, throwing down his pen “M – Mr Brunner?”</p><p>“Is Damon here?” Chiron asked, trying to keep his voice at a normal level despite how furious he was with the child.</p><p>“Erm… He’s sleeping,” Percy pointed out hesitatingly before he frowned “Why are you here?”</p><p>Damon rose with a sigh, rubbing a hand over his face. He was exhausted but he could hear how angry Chiron was and it didn’t bode well for him “I’m up,” he mumbled, walking up to the door.</p><p>“You missed your detention,” Chiron pointed out, narrowing his eyes on Damon.</p><p>“I know,” he shrugged before glancing at Percy “Weren’t you studying?”</p><p>Percy cursed before hurrying back to his desk. He was curious why Damon was acting the way he did and why he had gotten hurt but he felt bad for trying to listen. Damon was… There was something about Damon and Percy found himself liking the other boy.</p><p>Chiron gestured for Damon to follow “My classroom. Now.”</p><p>Damon crossed his arms “I really don’t want to.”</p><p>“I really don’t care,” Chiron pointed out before adding “The longer you take, the worse your punishment is going to get.”</p><p>“You don’t scare me,” Damon hissed through gritted teeth but followed the teacher when he noticed Percy trying to listen to what they were saying. He was annoyed that Chiron was being as persistent. He never cared much before, why would he now? He already had Percy to worry about, so he should just let Damon take care of himself. Just the way he always had “I already told you that I didn’t want to talk about it.”</p><p>They reached the classroom sooner than Damon would have liked and when Chiron pointed to a chair at the front, he threw himself down, trying not to wince at the flare of pain in his ribs “Damon…”</p><p>“No,” Damon cut him off. He didn’t want to listen to this. He just wanted everyone to leave him alone. He wanted Obadiah to leave him alone, Chiron to leave him alone… Just everyone who kept nagging at him. He was sick of it and just wanted to sleep.</p><p>Before he could continue, Chiron slammed his hands down on the desk, causing Damon to flinch back “You’re being a brat,” Chiron pointed out “I have enough problems with Percy’s situation and the gods. I don’t need you acting out too, so stop being difficult and just tell me who did this to you.” If Chiron thought that Damon would blow up at him or continue with what he had been doing, he was wrong. The boy deflated, dropping his head to hide his face.</p><p>“Right,” he whispered before looking up again. He just knew that he wasn’t important enough. Acting out usually made people show him what they expected from him. In Chiron’s case, that was for him to stop bothering him. Deep down, he understood that Percy’s whole situation was difficult and that he needed to be protected but it still hurt to hear it from the person who has been around him for months every year since he turned five. If he confided in Chiron, it would make everything worse. Not only would it stress Chiron even more but he was sure that the centaur would want to talk to his father about Obadiah and Damon couldn’t let him do that “I’ll get out of your hair then.”</p><p>“Damon…” Chiron sighed, running a hand through his hair when Damon fled the room. He hadn’t expected the child to take him by his word. Yes, Chiron was tired and just wanted the school year to be over and the gods to stop breathing down his neck but he never wanted to take it out on Damon. Sometimes he forgot how unsure Damon was about everything. He knew that there was a reason why Damon usually preferred to stay in the background but he didn’t think it was any of his business “Dammit.” He wheeled back out of the room only to find Damon curled into a ball by the window across the hall “I’m sorry.”</p><p>Damon tilted his head, not looking at Chiron “What for? You were just telling the truth.”</p><p>“No,” Chiron mumbled, smoothing his hands over the fake legs on his wheelchair “I shouldn’t have snapped at you. It’s just… Everything is a bit crazy right now.”</p><p>Damon’s lips twitched tiredly “Tell me something I don’t know.”</p><p>Chiron hesitated for a moment “If you won’t talk to me then at least go to the nurse and let her look at you.” He looked up at Damon “Your face looks even worse today.”</p><p>“It’s nothing,” Damon shook his head, raising his hand to touch the side of his face before realising that he used his bandaged hand to do it.</p><p>“May I see your arm?” Chiron asked, holding out his hand. He waited patiently, trying to calm the rest of his temper. It wasn’t Damon’s fault. He was only a tiny little part of a very long list of things that annoyed Chiron. Even if he turned out to be the one on the other end of Chiron’s outburst. Damon chewed on his busted lip before he carefully placed his wrist in Chiron’s hand. The centaur tugged up the sleeve and unwrapped the bandage “Damon. This looks bad. Please, if you won’t talk… Just let the nurse look at it. I know that you can heal yourself but that doesn’t mean that you should.”</p><p>“It’s fine,” Damon insisted, fidgeting enough for his arm to drop. He winced, cradling it against his chest “I just need some nectar and ambrosia and I’ll be fine.”</p><p>Chiron closed his eyes, counting down from ten “Do you happen to have some?”</p><p>Damon just shook his head “But I can keep it wrapped till then. I’m pretty sure that it’s not broken.”</p><p>“Just go to the nurse,” Chiron insisted “For the peace of my mind. Otherwise, I’m going to have to insist on a hospital.”</p><p>Damon flinched “No hospital.”</p><p>“Then go to the nurse, please.”</p><p>“Fine,” Damon breathed, his shoulders dropping even more. He hated medical professionals ever since they had to take him to a doctor when he was still in the orphanage. No one really cared about them, not even the doctors. It was rather similar to this school. None of the teachers – apart from Chiron – really cared about them as long as they behaved moderately well. The nurse was no different either from what he heard.</p><hr/><p>He had been right. The nurse had looked at his arm, given him a brace and sent him on his way without even checking his face and the visible bruises – never mind the ones that were hiding beneath his clothes.</p><p>A week after the whole Obadiah incident, Damon got the bad news. Tony Stark had gone missing after a weapon’s demonstration in Afghanistan and no one knew where to even start looking. Both Rhodey and Pepper had talked to Damon, telling him not to worry. That they would find Tony sooner or later but Damon couldn’t stop thinking about his father alone in a foreign country.</p><p>While Percy got more and more paranoid and freaked out over the last two weeks of the school year, Damon withdrew from everyone. He stopped eating and sleeping, his thoughts circling over the fact that his father was gone and that he might be dead. And that if he was dead then Obadiah would take over the company… Obadiah… Could he have something to do with this? He had talked about getting rid of both Damon and Tony several times but Damon didn’t think he would go this far… Would he?</p><p>In class, Tony Stark’s disappearance was the new hot topic and everyone talked about it, unknowingly making everything so much worse for Damon. The more time passed without news, the more he struggled. He and Jarvis had already tried to tag-team to find Tony but there was nothing. Whoever took him was in the middle of nowhere in the Afghan desert. Finding him there would be nothing short of luck.</p><p>The last day of term arrived quicker than Damon or Percy anticipated and soon everyone was talking about their vacation plans while both boys stayed quiet. Damon didn’t care about them and their rich parents, so he didn’t bother participating the any of the conversations. He’d be going back to Camp with Chiron in about an hour while Grover was set to accompany Percy. Not that they would stay together for long if Damon knew Percy. Grover had started to freak out Damon as well as Percy with his nervous mutterings.</p><hr/><p>The ride back to Camp was quiet. Argus had picked them up about twenty minutes ago and was driving them back to Long Island.</p><p>Chiron glanced over his shoulder worriedly, studying Damon as he had found himself doing more and more often “Damon… You know you can talk to me, right?”</p><p>Damon didn’t move, just kept staring out of the window “I’m fine.”</p><p>“Is this about what happened at the museum?” Chiron asked “You’re acting like you did when you first came to Camp. Withdrawn. Quiet.”</p><p>“I’m always quiet,” Damon pointed out before he dropped his head to lean on the window “Nothing’s wrong. Just leave me alone.” He dug out the phone from his pocket and stuffed in the headphones. Why couldn’t people understand that he didn’t want to talk? Not with Chiron, not with anyone. Except maybe Tony but he was gone, had been gone for two weeks now. He wasn’t sure when it was time for him to give up hope… Pepper and Rhodey didn’t want to tell him but Damon knew that the military would stop looking for Tony soon if there were no new information. Maybe in another month or a week? It was hard to say but after that… Damon didn’t know what he would do without Tony. Without his dad.</p><p>It took them ages to reach the camp because they soon hit New York traffic and it was as always horrible. Damon bit down on his lip when they passed the New York branch of Stark Industries that looked as lively as always despite Tony being gone. He wasn’t sure what he had expected. It was stupid to think that everything would stop with Tony gone but it felt so wrong that days were just continuing normally…</p><p>“Damon, please ask Will to look at your arm to make sure you’re healing. I know that you already healed most of it but I would feel better if Will were to look at it,” Chiron explained, placing his hand on Damon’s shoulder “You’re going to take over some of the beginner archery classes for me if you’re well enough. If not, please come to me. I don’t want you injuring yourself even more.”</p><p>“Sure,” Damon mumbled, hefting his bag over his shoulder with a wince. He made his way past the cabins until he reached his. Apollo Cabin was as bright as ever, the golden outside glowing in the setting sun. Damon shuffled inside, dumping his bag on the floor by his bed. For once he seemed to be in luck as the only other people in the cabin were Will and Kayla “Will?”</p><p>Will looked up from his conversation with Kayla in confusion before he saw Damon shifting awkwardly “Oh, hey Damon. What can I do for you? How did your quest go?”</p><p>“Chiron said that you should check out my arm,” he mumbled, rubbing the appendage in question. He was just glad that his face was almost back to normal. It was mostly his torso and his arm that was still hurting “He wants me to teach some of his archery classes but wants to know if I’m well enough.”</p><p>Will frowned in confusion “Why would you need to teach some of his classes?”</p><p>Damon looked down sheepishly before he shrugged “Doesn’t matter…”</p><p>Kayla smirked “Is my baby brother in trouble?” she teased.</p><p>“Shut up, Kayla,” Damon grumbled.</p><p>She looked at him in confusion. Normally, he didn’t mind her teasing much. He wasn’t very vocal which was a bit of an anomaly in this cabin but when talked to, he was always up for a conversation “Are you alright?”</p><p>“Take off your sweatshirt and roll up your sleeves,” Will cut in, seeing that Damon looked ready to bolt. He pulled the younger boy to sit down on the edge of his bed “Can you tell me what happened?”</p><p>Damon glanced at Kayla before he lifted the sweatshirt over his head. He jerked when he felt someone tug up his shirt, revealing his taped ribs “Did you get attacked? Damon, does Chiron know about this? You said your arm.”</p><p>“Don’t,” he hissed, trying to get off the bed. Will put his hands on Damon’s shoulders keeping him down “Let go of me.”</p><p>“Damon, we’re not trying to hurt you, okay? We’re worried.”</p><p>Damon froze “Why?”</p><p>Kayla blinked “Why what?”</p><p>“We’re worried because you’re our brother, Damon,” Will told him, probing the younger boy’s wrist “You might not be the most vocal but that doesn’t matter to any of us. We are all in the same boat, aren’t we?”</p><p>Damon stared at them in silence before he let out a small sigh “Yeah, we are.” He hesitated for a moment before he continued “I think one of my ribs is bruised. I doubt it’s broken but the bruising is still pretty bad. The rest is healed.”</p><p>“Rest?” Kayla whispered “How did you get hurt? I thought you only went to a school to help that Satyr. Was it a monster?”</p><p>“None of ours,” Damon admitted quietly, closing his eyes “But a monster nevertheless.”</p><p>Will finished bandaging the arm and ruffled Damon’s hair, laughing at his disgruntled look “It’s pretty much healed but I’d like you to wait for another couple days – maybe take a bit of nectar – before you start using your bow.”</p><p>“You never answered,” Kayla pointed out “How was the quest? Is it true that they think the demigod is the one spoken about in the prophecy?”</p><p>Damon shot her a surprised look “How do you know about that? I don’t think Chiron told anyone but Grover and me about that.”</p><p>“We have our ways,” Kayla grinned.</p><p>“Right,” Damon snorted “How could I forget your own little spynet?”</p><p>Kayla punched him in the side before she realised what she did “Shit, I’m sorry.”</p><p>Damon shook his head, his hand pressed to his side “I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”</p><p>“I see that’s a running theme for you,” Will pointed out. He took the time to study Damon closer. The younger boy looked tired and his eyes were sunken “You look tired.”</p><p>“I am,” Damon mumbled, rubbing at his eyes “I think I’m going to turn in early. Today has been… tiring.”</p><p>“A whole six months with Chiron,” Kayla nodded sagely “I can imagine.”</p><p>“Don’t get me started on that,” Damon groaned, burying his face in his hands. It felt good to just talk to someone about normal things. Percy had been going on and on about Mrs Dodds which in turn caused Grover to nearly hyperventilate every time. That and the constant worry that was eating at Damon. With his siblings, it felt right… Especially with Will and Kayla. They were his favourites by far. They never questioned how or why he was different or even who his other parent was after it became clear that he didn’t like talking about it.</p><p>As the other two left the cabin for dinner, Damon hid his face in his pillow. He could only be thankful that his quest had turned out the way it did. Normally, things went wrong and the demigods on these quests died a horrible death. As if demigods didn’t already have enough to worry about, the almighty Gods of Olympus kept sending them out on fatal quests because they were bored or too lazy to do a simple thing themselves. They deliberately played with their children’s lives. The least they could do was claim them all but that apparently was too much to ask. Damon couldn’t help but admire Hermes a little bit. His children had drawn the short straw with all the unclaimed campers in their cabin but at least they had somewhere to go. While Hermes was doing good with taking in everyone else’s abandoned children, it wasn’t fair to his own. Not with the space they had… </p><hr/><p>By the time dinner ended and the year-round Campers returned to the cabin, Damon was pretending to sleep. He had tried to fall asleep but as soon as he was close to drifting off, his mind flashed to his dad and thoughts about him circled through his head.</p><p>“Did you hear? A new demigod just arrived and he took out the M…”</p><p>“Don’t say the name,” another of the newer Apollo children cut the girl off. Damon didn’t know her, so she must have come sometime in the past year.</p><p>Damon rolled over, facing the room. He could imagine who was the new kid. No one else but Percy was that unlucky “What about the Satyr?”</p><p>“He was unconscious,” Will replied “In fact, they both were. I’m assuming that the boy was the reason you were with Chiron?”</p><p>Damon hummed with a shrug, ignoring the looks he was getting “So it would seem.” If Grover had been unconscious, there was a good chance that he could forget his license. Especially, since he wasn’t the most reliable in the first place. This had been his second chance already… Why they sent Satyrs, Damon wasn’t sure. They weren’t trained fighters. How were they supposed to stand up to hundreds of monsters? Especially since back then, there were three demigods, one of them a daughter of Zeus. The children of the Big Three always attracted the worst of the worst. Hence Mrs Dodds. It would explain why one of Hades’ personal minions was at the school…</p><p>He let out a small breath before turning back around, ignoring the questions thrown his way. He could feel their eyes for another five minutes before they went back to their gossiping. Maybe he could go and see Percy tomorrow… Hopefully without getting roped into another boring game of Pinochle by Mr D.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Campers Have S'More Fun</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It took two days for Percy to wake up. Damon had gone to see him every day and talked to him. He had been trying to ignore Will’s disapproving stares. The older son of Apollo had noticed that Damon had trouble eating and he was up for hours even after everyone else had gone to bed already but hadn’t actually found out what was wrong. Damon wasn’t talking much and that worried most of the older Apollo children who had known the other boy for years.</p><p>“Hey,” Damon greeted quietly, seeing Grover leaning against the porch railing. He looked about as shitty as Damon felt.</p><p>“Hi Damon,” Grover sighed, shifting the shoebox under his arm to rub at his face tiredly.</p><p>Damon chewed on his lip nervously and glanced over at the Satyr “You didn’t get your license, did you?”</p><p>Grover shook his head with a sad look on his face “No. And it was my last chance as well.”</p><p>“That sucks,” Damon muttered before he stood up straighter. There might just be a way to get Grover another chance. After all, he didn’t actually fail. Why they expected Satyrs to be able to pull of rescues for children of the Big Three, he didn’t know. They could barely fight after all.</p><p>Grover narrowed his eyes on Damon. Over the last year, he had gotten to know the boy and that facial expression never bode well “We’re not bribing Mr D.”</p><p>“Fine,” Damon huffed. There went that idea. When did he start to become predictable though? “I’ll think of something, Grover. I promise.”</p><p>“I doubt you can do anything at all, but by all means,” he snorted, waving his hand “Go right ahead.”</p><p>“We’ll see about that,” Damon mumbled, seeing movement out of the corner of his eye. Percy was reaching out blindly, trying to grasp the glass of water from the table.</p><p>Grover called out when he almost knocked it over “Careful.” Damon put the glass of nectar to the side, helping Percy to sit up, sliding onto the deck chair behind him “You saved my life. I… Well, the least I could do… I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this.” Grover placed the shoebox in Percy’s lap as Damon reached out for the nectar with his good arm.</p><p>“The Minotaur,” Percy said, seeing a black and white bull’s horn inside. The edge was jagged and looked like it had been broken off, the top splattered with blood. Damon grimaced at that. Seemed like Percy had as much fun with his second monster attack as he had with his first. How he managed the break off the horn, Damon didn’t know. From the thickness alone it looked like it should have taken more strength than a scrawny twelve-year-old should possess.</p><p>“Maybe you shouldn’t use the name, Percy,” Damon advised from behind him and held out the glass with a questioning look “Want some now? It’ll definitely help you get some energy back.”</p><p>“In a second,” Percy waved off with a frown “That’s what they call him though, right? In the Greek myths. Minotaur. Half man, half bull.”</p><p>Grover shifted uncomfortably and decided that his best chance would be to change the subject. The explanation would come soon enough “You’ve been out for two days. How much do you remember?”</p><p>“My mum,” Percy breathed, his hands starting to shake “Is she really…”</p><p>Damon closed his eyes tightly, knowing the pain Percy was feeling now. The glass was back on the table, so he wrapped his arms around the other boy from behind, lending as much comfort as he could give.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Grover interrupted the boys’ brooding “I’m a failure. I’m – I’m the worst Satyr in the world.” He stomped his foot so hard that it came off, Converse and Styrofoam and all. Against Damon’s better judgement, he hid his face in Percy’s shoulder and let out an amused snort “Oh, Styx.” Thunder rolled across the clear sky like it did so often here. Damon had given up on worrying about it a long time ago.</p><p>“It wasn’t your fault,” Percy replied tonelessly, leaning back into Damon.</p><p>Damon ducked his head onto Percy’s shoulder, smiling a little. There wasn’t much he could say to make the situation better but what he could do was be there for Percy. While he had never really gotten the hang of friendships, he was pretty sure that it was how they were supposed to work. The only real example he had was Rhodey’s friendship with his father and they were… interesting when put together.</p><p>Grover raised his eyebrow at Damon before he averted his eyes “Yes, it was. I was supposed to protect you.”</p><p>“Did my mother ask you to protect me?”</p><p>“No,” Grover shook his head “But that’s my job. I’m a keeper. At least… I was.”</p><p>“And if I have anything to do with it, you will be again, Grover,” Damon pointed out “It’s really not fair to judge you by the last task. We all knew how it was going to end and they still sent you alone to deal with three teens. One of them being a magnet for monsters.”</p><p>Grover shrugged “I still messed up.”</p><p>Damon sighed before grabbing the glass again. He knew when to stop arguing with Grover, so he decided to turn his attention back to Percy “You really should drink, Percy. Trust me?” Percy nodded dizzily, leaning back against Damon as he was trying to blink back the darkness. He was grasping at the straw blindly before he managed to take a sip.</p><p>“Was it good?” Grover asked, watching Percy empty the glass in record time.</p><p>“Yeah,” Percy nodded, looking more energetic than just a moment ago.</p><p>The Satyr looked at the two demigods wistfully “What did it taste like?”</p><p>“Sorry,” Percy mumbled “I should have let you taste.”</p><p>Grover’s eyes widened “No. That’s not what I meant. I just… wondered.”</p><p>“Satyrs can’t drink nectar, Perce,” Damon told the other boy, grimacing when he got a confused look in return “You’ll get your explanation soon, I promise. Just not here and not from either of us.” Damon poked at Percy until he was sitting upright on his own, reluctantly sliding out from behind him.</p><p>Percy held himself back from reaching out for Damon, instead focussing on his confusion “Okay…” He glanced over at Grover “It tasted like chocolate-chip cookies. My mum’s. Home-made.”</p><p>Damon took the empty glass inside and leaned against the table for a moment. It had been long enough for Will to allow him to practise again, so hopefully, his older brother could be convinced. Damon was going stir crazy without being able to go to the shooting range. He would even prefer teaching beginners to shoot with a bow than to sit around and do nothing most days. Then again, he might have managed to piss off the Hephaestus kids when he tried to talk to them about a problem he was having and immediately found flaws in a design they had been working on.</p><p>“Come on,” Grover clapped his hands, his eyes still betraying his worry “Chiron and Mr D are waiting.”</p><p>Damon jumped over the fence and landed on Percy’s left. He glanced at Percy from the corner of his eye, making sure that the other boy was steady on his feet.</p><p>As they were walking, Damon couldn’t help but let his gaze drift. He really loved Camp and the location was just perfectly placed on the north shore of Long Island. The whole area was dotes with buildings, the cabins standing in the middle in a U shape. On the nearby volleyball court, a few Campers were battling it out with a group of Satyrs. Canoes glided across the small lake and the Stoll twins were being chased around the cabins by some other Campers. Damon’s lips twitched in amusement. They never learned. Pranking someone when everyone suspects it was them wasn’t the best idea. </p>
<hr/><p>At the end of the porch, Chiron and Dionysus were sitting at a card table with Annabeth leaning on the porch railing next to them. Damon glanced at the table before retreating with a grimace. There was no way he was going to play another game of Pinochle. He never really minded D’s oddities much, mostly because his own father was way worse when it came to quirks but he absolutely hated that game. He’d rather play Black Jack or Poker or something. After six years of playing Pinochle there was only so much he could take. While he won on several occasions, he still had no idea how the game worked exactly. Mostly because Dionysus made his own rules.</p><p>“That’s Mr D,” Grover pointed to the man in the animal print shirt “He’s the Camp director. Be polite. The girl, that’s Annabeth Chase. She’s just a Camper but she’s been here longer than just about anybody except for Damon. How many years is it now, Day?”</p><p>“Seven for me,” Damon told him quietly “Annabeth has been here for almost five now, I think. Anyway, you already know Chiron though.” He gestured to the centaur who was still in his wheelchair disguise.</p><p>“Mr Brunner,” Percy exclaimed, recognising the man.</p><p>Chiron turned and smiled mischievously “Ah, good, Percy,” he nodded “Now we have four for Pinochle. Damon, how is your arm?”</p><p>Damon shrugged “Should be good to go.” He looked at the table “I’m not playing.”</p><p>“I know,” Mr D groused “Grover will play. I don’t understand how you can dislike Pinochle. It’s amazing.”</p><p>“I don’t not like it, I hate it,” Damon muttered, leaning against the rail behind the God of Wine “That and I still don’t understand your rules. Why can’t you play Poker for a change?”</p><p>Percy had sat down to the right of Mr D, who in turn ignored Damon with a heavy sigh “Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don’t expect me to be glad to see you.”</p><p>“Uh, thanks?” Percy blinked, scooting farther away from him.</p><p>Chiron rolled his eyes at Mr D “Annabeth?” he called out to the blonde.</p><p>Damon turned his head to her. They had never really gotten along well. Annabeth had always thought she was better than the Apollo children because she’s a daughter of Athena and ‘so much smarter than those dumb kids of Apollo’. What she didn’t understand yet was that life wasn’t as black and white as that. She saw the children of all the other gods and goddesses who weren’t associated with smarts or wisdom as ‘dumb’ which would come back to bite her eventually.</p><p>Chiron smiled at Annabeth before gesturing to her “This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don’t you go and check out Percy’s bunk? We’ll be putting him in Cabin Eleven for now.”</p><p>“Sure, Chiron,” Annabeth nodded and went to walk off.</p><p>“You don’t have to come back here. I’ll have Damon show Percy to the Cabin,” Chiron added “You can take over from there.” Annabeth threw Damon an annoyed look before she nodded and turned to run down the lawn.</p><p>Damon huffed and crossed his arms “Why me?”</p><p>“Because you’re friends already and you’ve been hiding out inside your Cabin for the last three days,” Chiron shot back, narrowing his eyes on Damon.</p><p>“Anything for you, Chiron,” Damon sighed, spying at his uncle’s cards. He snorted at the hand he hand and shook his head in mock sadness “You’re so going to lose.”</p><p>“Shut up, brat,” Dionysus grumbled “I thought you didn’t understand the game.”</p><p>Damon patted his shoulder with a grin “Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. But I do know that this…” He gestured to the cards “Is crap.”</p><p>“So,” Percy cleared his throat anxiously “You, uh, work here, Mr Brunner?”</p><p>Chiron shook his head “Not Mr Brunner. I’m afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron.”</p><p>“Okay,” Percy shrugged, totally confused from the sound of it “And Mr D… Does that stand for something?”</p><p>D looked up from his cards incredulously. He never understood quite how it wasn’t normal for humans to actually question things like that. Percy hadn’t grown up around this, so the whole ‘names have power’ thing was hard to grasp at first “Young man, names are powerful things. You don’t just go around using them for no reason.”</p><p>“Introductions aren’t a good enough reason?” Damon asked cheekily, glancing over his shoulder from where he was making a drink. He was probably one of the few who could talk to Dionysus like that without being turned into a dolphin or something. Although that would be an awesome experience, he was sure. Lord Poseidon was the nicest out of the Big Three. He probably wouldn’t mind a stray dolphin swimming around the sea “He’s Dionysus, Percy. Greek God, of wine, madness and whatnot.” Thunder rumbled across the sky, causing Damon to roll his eyes “Really? Better to tell him that stuff now than to wait for him to mess up like most of the other new Campers do. At least he’ll start learning it now.”</p><p>“God?” Percy gasped “Like the m–”</p><p>“Don’t,” Damon cut him off quickly, grimacing at the white-knuckled grip D had on his can of diet coke “They’re not myths.” He pried the coke out of D’s hands and swapped it for the glass he had just filled.</p><p>Chiron raised an eyebrow at Damon. He was surprised at how much he was talking. Not so much about the whole alcohol thing. Even he could admit that D was better to be around after he had a drink or two and the centaur couldn’t quite fault Damon’s logic about the whole God of wine situation “That’s the most I’ve heard you talk to anyone who isn’t Mr D since you came to Camp. Can I continue now?” Damon shrugged and gestured for Chiron to go ahead “I must say, Percy. I’m glad to see you alive. It’s been a long time since I made a house call to a potential Camper. I’d hate to think I’ve wasted my time.”</p><p>“House call?” Percy frowned, trying to take in all the information he was being told.</p><p>“My year at Yancy Academy to instruct you. We have Satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. For you, we sent Damon with Grover which isn’t common. We had our suspicions about you from the beginning, so when Grover contacted me, I decided to come upstate. I convinced your other Latin teacher to… ah, take a leave of absence.”</p><p>“You came to Yancy just to teach me? And Damon?”</p><p>Chiron nodded “We thought a little extra protection couldn’t go wrong and Damon has the most experience. Honestly, I wasn’t sure about you at first. We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive and that’s always the first test.”</p><p>“Grover,” Mr D barked impatiently “Are you playing or not?”</p><p>“Yes, sir,” Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair.</p><p>Dionysus eyes Percy suspiciously “You do know how to play Pinochle?”</p><p>“I’m afraid not,” Percy shook his head, looking somewhat dazed.</p><p>“I’m afraid not, sir,” Dionysus corrected, taking a deep sip of his drink. He relaxed in his chair with a happy sigh.</p><p>“Sir,” Percy repeated, trying to sound at least somewhat respectful.</p><p>Dionysus looked down at his cards again before throwing them down “Well, it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules.”</p><p>“I don’t,” Damon raised his hand “Also, Pac-Man, really?”</p><p>“I did say civilized, didn’t I?”</p><p>“Are you calling me uncivilized?” Damon gasped, raising his hand to his chest “I’m hurt, uncle. Really, really hurt. There is pain right here.”</p><p>Dionysus let out a suffering sigh “Why do I like you again?” He took another sip of the drink “Oh, right...”</p><p>Damon gestured to him “See? Plus, my charming personality and witty comebacks really should be enough of a reason.”</p><p>“Please,” Percy whispered, his head snapping from Damon to the supposed god as if he was watching a tennis match “What is this place? What am I doing here? Mr Brun – Chiron – why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me? Why would Damon go to school just because of me?”</p><p>Mr D snorted “I asked the same questions.”</p><p>“Maybe I should explain it to him,” Damon proposed, seeing that Percy was close to losing his temper and with D here that was the worst possible outcome “Without the bad commentary.”</p><p>“That’s a good idea, Damon. Why don’t you take him to the beach and show him his Cabin when you’re done?” Damon inclined his head, ignoring Dionysus’ grumbling about not having enough people for Pinochle now.</p><p>“What’s going on here?” Percy burst out once they were out of earshot.</p><p>Damon sighed “Listen to me, this might be hard to believe but everything I’m going to tell you is the truth. You’re a demigod. You remember what they are, right?”</p><p>“Yeah, the children of gods. Half-human, half god?”</p><p>“Exactly,” Damon nodded “Did your mother tell you anything about your father?”</p><p>Percy shook his head “She told me that he was lost at sea, not dead but lost. She told me about a Summer Camp and how she was too afraid to send me there, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was there, I probably couldn’t leave. She wanted to keep me close.”</p><p>Damon wrapped an arm around Percy’s shoulder after they had sat down on a rock by the water “I know it’s unbelievable but please, try to believe. You killed the Minotaur, you saw Grover and even Mr D, even though he might not be the most impressive example of a Greek God. I mean, who wears animal print?”</p><p>Percy snorted at the before his face transformed into one of doubt “So, you’re trying to tell me that there’s such a thing as God?”</p><p>“God as in capital G, no idea. We’re talking gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavours. The immortal gods and goddesses of Olympus. And not only Greeks. As far as I’m aware there are also the gods of Asgard, the Egyptians and a couple of others.”</p><p>“Zeus. Hera. Apollo. You mean them?” Percy blinked. There was another rumble of thunder and Damon glared at the sky. How were you meant to explain the cluster fuck that was their family without mentioning the names at least until everything was explained?</p><p>“Don’t say their names, please. They don’t like it much, but yes. They exist,” Damon nodded.</p><p>“But they’re stories,” Percy exclaimed, waving his hands around “They’re myths to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They’re what people believed before there was science.”</p><p>“And all of a sudden I’m glad I took you away from Mr D,” Damon snorted “Remember what I told you earlier at the Big House? Immortal means immortal, no matter what people believe. They live forever, even when people try to come up with other explanations for things. Like the Big Back or Maths and Science. It doesn’t mean that it’s not true. It just means that there’s a lot more to the world than what most people know.”</p><p>“You mean they would live even if nobody believed in them?”</p><p>Damon nodded “Exactly. If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth? An old story to explain the sunrise or the change in tide? What if I told you that someday people might call you a myth? Or me?”</p><p>“I – I wouldn’t like it,” Percy whispered “But I don’t believe in gods.”</p><p>“You will,” Damon grinned “But for now, humour me.”</p><p>“So… Mr D really is a god?” Percy asked after a few moments of silence.</p><p>Damon hummed in agreement “Yep, so please do yourself a favour and don’t offend him. He might actually incinerate you or turn you into a dolphin… I still think being a dolphin would be an awesome punishment. Who wouldn’t want to be a dolphin?”</p><p>“Offend him like you do, you mean?” Percy teased, a small smile on his face.</p><p>Damon waved him off “We’ve been doing that for years now. I think that I’m one of the only Campers apart from his sons who can actually talk to him like that. None of us are very social but we somehow fit together, you know? My siblings are all really outgoing which makes it a bit hard for me to keep up with them occasionally.”</p><p>“But you get along?” Percy asked.</p><p>“For the most part,” Damon shrugged “Most of them don’t understand me but they are my siblings. We stick together as much as we can. I’m closer to Will and Kayla who you’ll meet sometime.”</p><p>Percy nodded thoughtfully “I think I’d like that.”</p><p>“Do you want to see where you’re going to stay now?” Damon asked, listening to the sound of the waves. He loved the sea, that’s why he loved living in Malibu with his dad “It’ll be a bit crowded but you’re to stay there until your father claims you.”</p><p>“Claims… me?”</p><p>Damon grinned, getting up to show Percy his Cabin “I know. Makes us sound like we’re all just sitting around in lost and found. Basically, we have to be acknowledged by our godly parent. Some never do but I have a feeling you’ll be lucky. Just wait it out.”</p><p>“Who is your father?” Percy asked curiously.</p><p>Damon bit his lip, contemplating whether or not to tell Percy the truth. Not the full truth, not yet, but most of it. They had known each other for a while now and been friends for most of that time which had to count for something “My immortal father is Apollo, so my Cabin is number seven. Honestly, you can’t miss it, it’s that eye-catching. I’m sure Annabeth will give you a tour later.” He paused for a moment “You’ll stay in Hermes Cabin, which is number eleven. They take in all Campers, even the unclaimed ones. That’s why it’s a bit crowded most of the time.”</p><p>“What are the other Cabins?” Percy asked curiously, looking around the U.</p><p>“Erm…” Damon pointed to the biggest ones at the head “Those are for Zeus and Hera. The one on the left is Poseidon’s. No one usually stays in those.”</p><p>Percy frowned, feeling a strange compulsion to walk up to the cabin on the left “Why not?”</p><p>Damon shrugged “Hera’s the Goddess of marriage and family. She would never cheat, so there’s no child to go in there. As for the Big Three, they made a pact some seventy years ago that they wouldn’t create any more children. Not that that’s likely to work out but kudos for trying, I guess. Lord Hades doesn’t have a Cabin for some totally irrelevant reason. Number four is Demeter, five is Ares.” He pointed them out as he was naming them “Six is Athena, Annabeth is in that one. Then seven is Apollo, eight is Artemis. The only people staying in number eight are the Hunters of Artemis whenever they’re around. Cabin nine is Hephaestus, then is Aphrodite, Hermes and number twelves is Dionysus.”</p><p>“Mr D has children? You mentioned them before.”</p><p>Damon snorted at the tone of disbelief “Only two,” he explained “You’ll probably see them around. Pollux and Castor are D’s twin sons and the only occupants.”</p><p>Percy looked around, squinting at the bright light of Apollo’s Cabin “How come you said the names? I thought that was forbidden.”</p><p>“Well, at least you remember,” Damon teased “But you can’t learn until someone tells you all the facts.”</p><p>Percy nodded in agreement. He liked having all the facts but it was hard when people just thought you were a stupid kid and not worth talking to “Aren’t there some cabins missing?”</p><p>“There are. Only the Olympians are the only ones to have Cabins. I’m sure you’ll also meet some demigods who have been claimed but since their parent hasn’t got a cabin, they stay with the Hermes kids.”</p><p>Percy tilted his head “You disapprove?”</p><p>“I don’t like it,” Damon grumbled “But I also know that there’s nothing I can do about it. Anyway, here we are. Meet your new roommates for the time being. If you want, Annabeth can show you around after you met them.” He pushed the door open, gesturing for Percy to step inside.</p><p>“Can’t you?”</p><p>“Take it up with Annabeth, alright?” Damon’s grin was a little weaker than normal “I think she would bury me if I think about coming along. She’s been wanting to talk to you since she took over your care for the past days.” He nodded at Luke who was watching them from the far wall “Percy Jackson, meet Cabin eleven.”</p><p>“Regular or undetermined?” Connor asked.</p><p>“Undetermined,” Annabeth replied, walking over to stand next to Percy. Everyone groaned at that, making it obvious just how often it happened.</p><p>“Now, now, Campers,” Luke spoke up, although he didn’t look thrilled either “That’s what we’re here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor right over there.” Luke was nineteen, tall, muscular with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile.</p><p>Annabeth leaned over Percy’s shoulder “That’s Luke,” she gushed, blushing when the boy in question turned to grin at her “He’s your counsellor for now.”</p><p>Percy looked at the tiny section of the floor. The only possession he had was the Minotaur horn and he was reluctant to put it down. Hermes was the God of thieves after all and he wasn’t sure just how much of that was in his children.</p><p>“Come on,” Annabeth spoke up after a couple of moments of silence “I’ll show you around now.” She grabbed Percy’s arm and went to pull him out.</p><p>“Damon?”</p><p>“Hm?” He looked up from his thoughts and blinked “Oh, right. Sorry.” He followed them outside after sending a tiny smile and a wave to Luke.</p><p>“What have you seen already?” Annabeth asked, eying Damon in disdain.</p><p>Percy shrugged “Damon explained the Cabins.”</p><p>“That’s all?”</p><p>“I thought he’d rather see where he’ll be staying first,” Damon pointed out “Also, I was under the impression that you wanted to do the tour, so I kept it to the bare minimum that Chiron would have told him as well.” He turned to Percy “I’m going to go back to my Cabin. If you’re done before dinner, just knock.”</p><p>“Okay,” Percy nodded, watching Damon turn to walk into his Cabin.</p><p>Damon threw himself onto his bed with a groan. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Percy or Grover but around them, he was kind of afraid to completely let his masks down. They had been falling more and more but the last one, his patented ‘Damon Carter’ mask was the one he was really afraid of dropping. What if they didn’t want to be his friends anymore after finding out he was Tony Stark’s son?</p><p>He closed his eyes, praying to every god out there that his father was still out there. Damon might not act like it sometimes but he needed his father. Obadiah was turning into even more of a nightmare and he really didn’t want him to be around more than he already was. Especially not after he had hired people to beat Damon up a couple of weeks ago.</p>
<hr/><p>Two and a half hours before dinner started, Damon had his tongue sticking out as he was concentrating on the blueprints in front of him. He was trying to improve the designs of his phone. The camera was a bit shaky and there was something wrong with the processor of the last. To allow him to change the internal components, he would need to change around the size and the position of the camera a little.</p><p>There was a quiet knock at the door and Kayla got up from watching Damon work to answer it “Damon.”</p><p>He hummed, not looking up from the sketch “Just a second.”</p><p>A few well-placed lines later, he closed the sketchbook and shoved it underneath his pillow. He had always kept his ideas and prototype sketches under there. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his siblings and even if they were to look at it, it was debatable whether they’d understand half of it. Sometimes he had trouble understanding what his brain had vomited onto the page.</p><p>“What happened now?” Damon frowned when he saw Percy’s sheepish expression.</p><p>“It wasn’t my fault,” Percy protested “There was this girl, Clarisse or something. She wanted to dunk my head into the toilet and it exploded…”</p><p>Kayla coughed, trying unsuccessfully to hide her laughter “So that’s what the commotion was all about earlier.” At Damon’s confused look, she shook her head fondly “You didn’t hear that? I’m pretty sure half the Camp heard Clarisse and her group shouting.”</p><p>“Well…” Damon shrugged “On another note, Percy meet Kayla. Kayla, Percy.”</p><p>“Nice to meet you, newbie,” Kayla waved before ruffling Damon’s hair “It’s good to see Damon actually interacting with people around him. He’s a bit of a loner. Although it is interesting to watch when he gets in the zone. Even if I admittedly have no idea what he was doing for the last two hours.”</p><p>“Wait, you were watching me?” Damon asked in surprise “Kayla, why?”</p><p>She shrugged with a grin “It’s fun. You have no idea what’s happening around you.”</p><p>Damon ran a hand through his hair, trying to flatten it “I was concentrating…”</p><p>“Whatever floats your boat, baby bro.”</p><p>“Stop calling me that,” Damon groaned before turning to Percy “Come on. The further we’re away from Kayla, the better.”</p><p>“I heard that,” she huffed “Love you too, Damon.”</p><p>Damon turned back and shrugged at her “I know.”</p><p>“Brat,” she shouted after him.</p><p>Percy smiled at the scene “You two really get along, don’t you?”</p><p>Damon played with his fingers “Kayla and I have always been closer than a lot of our siblings. I think it’s because the two of us are a bit of a special case.”</p><p>“Special case?” Percy questioned. Everything to get out of talking about himself for a little while. That and he realised how little he actually knew about Damon’s family.</p><p>“Both Kayla and I have a god as a parent… but he carried us.” At Percy’s uncomprehending look, he added “Apollo was a woman when he met out fathers.”</p><p>Percy gaped “Hold up… That’s possible?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Damon nodded “He doesn’t do it often as far as I have seen. That’s why Kayla and I bonded over that. Well, and we’re both trying to one-up each other to see who is more annoying.” He paused for a moment, settling back on the stone they had been sitting on earlier “Enough about me, though. What’s on your mind?”</p><p>Percy was quiet for a moment, not sure if he should voice his thoughts “What am I?” he asked eventually.</p><p>Damon gained a look of understanding and he bumped Percy’s shoulder in support “You’re a demigod, Percy. Half-human and half god. Your father is one of the Greek gods, like mine. It’s a little much to have dumped on you all at once, isn’t it?”</p><p>“But if all the children here are half god…”</p><p>“Demigods, Perce. Or Half-Bloods,” Damon corrected.</p><p>“Then who are their dads?” Percy finished.</p><p>“It’s not always the father. I just told you about my situation which admittedly is a bit out there but you forgot Athena, Aphrodite and Demeter,” Damon explained “Those are really the only goddesses to have both children and a Cabin. Artemis is a maiden goddess as is Hestia and I have already explained Hera to you. Don’t assume it’s always the father who is immortal.”</p><p>“You don’t like to talk about your family, do you?” Percy asked carefully “I haven’t heard you do more than mention your dad – and I’m guessing you meant your… your mortal parent.”</p><p>Damon swallowed, feeling like the worst son all of a sudden “It’s not that… Most of the guys here don’t know about my mortal parent. I don’t hate my dad – the opposite really but it’s just so normal to hide who he is. I’m not sure people would believe me anyway.”</p><p>“Why not?”</p><p>“You like asking questions, don’t you?” Damon teased one last, feeble attempt to stop the conversation from going any further.</p><p>“I’ve had a trying day, sue me,” he argued “So?”</p><p>“I’m only telling you this because you’re my friend, so please keep it to yourself, alright?” Percy nodded seriously and Damon sighed “My dad is… someone very well known. My last name isn’t really Carter. I don’t want them to know who my dad is because I don’t want to make friends just because of who he is.”</p><p>Percy tilted his head “Then what is your real name? If you don’t mind telling me, that is.”</p><p>Damon ran a hand through his hair and sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that day “My name is Damon Stark. I’m the heir to Stark Industries.”</p><p>“Woah,” Percy gasped before he caught himself “Sorry, but that is kind of huge. I understand why you don’t want everyone to know.” He froze, his eyes widening “Wait. Your dad is…”</p><p>“He’s missing,” Damon finished quietly “Yeah.”</p><p>Percy reached out to touch Damon’s hand “That’s why you were so weird after the trip to the museum. I thought it was because of what happened there but… You should have told me.”</p><p>Damon looked away “It’s fine.”</p><p>“No, it’s really not,” Percy argued, pulling Damon’s head against his shoulder “I’m sorry, though.”</p><p>Damon tangled his fingers in Percy’s shirt “It’s really okay, Perce. I mean, I miss him a lot and I’m scared that he won’t come back but… There’s not much I can do… Believe me, I tried.” He blinked away the tears before he got up and cleared his throat “Come on, it’s almost time for dinner.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Sometimes I Aim To Please But Mostly I Just Shoot To Kill</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dinner was as crowded and hectic as always. Every Camper squeezed into the dining pavilion. In the centre, there was a huge fire burning in a bronze brazier the size of one of the bathtubs in the Los Angeles mansion. Each Cabin had its own table, some crowded, others empty. But they were all covered in white cloth trimmed in purple – Dionysus’ influence, I’m sure.</p><p>Like the Cabin, Hermes’ table was way too small for everyone to squeeze onto the benches. It was funny… People always assumed that Apollo had a huge amount of demigod children but there were only ten of them at the moment and that included Damon. Both Ares and Aphrodite had more children currently at Camp and even Hephaestus and Athena had more. They all knew that Apollo was known as a womanizer but none of the other gods and goddesses were any better. Almost every Olympian – the virgin goddesses except – had at least a few children running around.</p><p>Damon let his gaze travel over the table, his lips twitching up a little when he saw Grover messing around with a couple of other Satyrs and the twins at Dionysus’ table. Castor and Pollux were actually pretty cool, although they definitely preferred to spend more time on their own than with the other Campers. Not that Damon could blame them… Not many were willing to give them a chance.</p><p>Chiron stood to one side of the Not Centaur Approved™ picnic table at the head of the pavilion, smiling at all the Campers. When everyone seemed to have settled, he stomped his hoof against the marble floor, making everyone fall silent “To the Gods.”</p><p>“To the Gods,” everyone echoed, raising their still empty glasses.</p><p>The wood nymphs came forward with platters full of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread and barbecue.</p><p>“Lime Coke,” Damon mumbled into his glass, making it fill up with the non-alcoholic sort of cocktail. He placed a little fruit on a small plate along with some barbecue on the bigger one for the sacrifice.</p><p>Will leaned over to his brother, having watched him worriedly. In fact, over the past couple days, he had been watching Damon more and more often and he was extremely worried for the younger boy “That’s not all you’re going to eat, are you?”</p><p>Damon looked up at him before he turned away with a shrug “Not hungry.”</p><p>“You said that before,” Will pointed out, following the rest of his siblings to the brazier “And I have yet to see you eat a full meal. Damon, you can’t go on like this. Please, just eat something.”</p><p>“I’m just not hungry,” Damon shook his head, scraping the food for his father into the fire. It wasn’t like he was lying. Everything felt like a chore recently and he couldn’t even think about eating and sleeping. He barely ate enough to get through the day and mostly stayed up at night, designing a new feature for the next model phone he had in mind.</p><p>“Damon,” a voice from the table behind him called, causing him to flinch in surprise. He turned to see Mr D staring at him with a frown “Come see me after dinner,” he whispered once Damon was close enough “I believe we need to talk. And eat something.”</p><p>“Whatever you say,” Damon sighed, walking back to his space at the Apollo table. He started pushing around the food on his plate, not even blinking when Will piled some more stuff on there when he wasn’t looking. It wasn’t like he was going to eat it anyway…</p><p>Once everyone had finished their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again. Dionysus got up with a huge sigh “Yes, I suppose I’d better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels –” Cheers rose from the Ares table “Personally,” D continued “I couldn’t care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new Camper today. Peter Johnson.” Damon snorted when Chiron leaned over “Er, Percy Jackson. That’s right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on.”</p><p>Everyone cheered, heading down to the amphitheatre where Damon’s siblings would no doubt lead another stupid sing-along. He had no idea why anyone would think they were fun… It was similar to Capture the Flag. He had joined the first few times but as time passed, he preferred to stay on the sidelines. Their lived were in danger without them trying to kill each other for a flag that ultimately meant nothing to him.</p><p>“Walk with me,” Dionysus spoke up from directly next to Damon, gesturing in the direction of the Big House.</p><p>Damon followed behind him, trying not to show how little he wanted to have this conversation “What is it?”</p><p>“I just thought that you might… want to talk? Ares hasn’t shut up since your dad went missing. Tony Stark has been presumed dead after he’s been missing for over a month now. How are you feeling about this?”</p><p>“I’m fine, uncle. There’s nothing to talk about,” Damon denied, making to walk off.</p><p>Dionysus grabbed him by the shoulder, stopping him “I’m neither blind nor stupid. I see that you either don’t come to meals or that you don’t eat more than a few mouthfuls. It’s not healthy, Damon and sooner or later, you’re going to have to talk to someone about this.”</p><p>Damon sighed, slumping down on the chair Percy had sat on earlier that day “I just… I don’t want to talk about it.” When Dionysus kept looking at him, he sighed in defeat “I don’t know what to do,” he admitted quietly “I don’t know whether dad is alive or not… And Obadiah is…” He broke off and shook his head. No need to tell him about the additional worry of Obadiah “I just don’t know anymore. What if he’s dead? What’s going to happen to me then?”</p><p>“You still have your family here,” Dionysus pointed out “No matter how much I might dislike Apollo, I know he cares about all of you. And you know that talking about your problems help. Or so I’ve heard.”</p><p>“Maybe,” Damon snorted “But it just… It hurts, D. My dad is either dead or out there somewhere and I can’t do anything about it because I’m stuck here without any resources. He’s been gone for over a month and I feel like I’m falling apart. I’m not hungry, I barely sleep and whenever I do, I have nightmares.” He rubbed his face, shuddering when he remembered what the nightmares were about. If he was honest with himself, he’d prefer demigod dreams to relive all the times that Obadiah had shoved him around. The idea that he might have to stay with Obadiah if his father was dead, scared the shit out of him. He was scared that the man would do something to hurt him or the people he cared about if Damon didn’t do what he wanted. Then again, Damon might end up dead as well since the public didn’t know that he was Tony Stark’s son.</p><p>D sighed and placed his hands on the boy’s shoulders “Let’s go to Argus. He’ll give you something for tonight and after that, we’ll see. But I can guarantee that you’ll always have a place here if you need it. Not just during the summers.” Damon nodded with a small smile. He knew that Dionysus wasn’t as bad as he made himself out to be. This was his punishment and he really didn’t enjoy being around children all day but he could be nice if you respected him “Also,” he continued, making Damon frown at him “There’s the matter of Friday. I want you on the medical team again. This time it’s not just because I know that you don’t want to be a part of it but because of what Chiron had told him about the boy’s injuries.</p><p>Damon looked down at the brace he still had on his wrist and sighed “I just don’t understand the appeal of hammering away at each other with swords. Especially not if Cabin five is involved. Sword practice, sure, but there they don’t try to kill each other.”</p><p>“Well, I’m just glad that you offered your services as a medic,” D shrugged “We need everyone we can get with how violent these turn out to be. Now, how about I get you that sleeping draught and you’ll go to bed? Oh, and before I forget, Chiron wants you to help to introduce the new demigod to archery tomorrow after breakfast.”</p><p>“Percy?” Damon asked, his eyebrows shooting up “I can’t wait to see that.”</p><hr/><p>The next morning, Damon was standing with Chiron and Percy in the archery range, fiddling with the brace on his arm. Will had told him that he could start training again if he was careful and Damon was ecstatic, but he was also a bit nervous to hurt his wrist again. He had been up all night, finishing up the designs and most of the programming he had wanted to get done. Now he only needed to get Jarvis to look it over for him.</p><p>The archery lesson turned out to be a complete disaster… How Percy managed to get an arrow tangled in Chiron’s tail, he’ll never know. Especially since the centaur was standing a couple of feet behind Percy and in no way in the line of his shot.</p><p>Damon was laughing so hard, he almost fell over as he tried to comprehend what he just saw “How… the…?”</p><p>“Shut up, Day,” Percy grumbled.</p><p>“Sorry, sorry,” he gasped “But that was amazing. I never knew that anyone could be that bad at archery. I mean, that arrow ricocheted off of three trees, two rocks and a sign before it got stuck in Chiron’s tail.”</p><p>Percy crossed his arms “Oh and you’re better?” he challenged.</p><p>Damon raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to remember who his father was. When it didn’t seem to work, he sighed, readjusting his brace. He quickly put on his finger guards and grabbed the bow and an arrow from Percy, drawing it in one swift motion “You forget who my father is, Perce,” he grinned when the arrow hit the target in the exact centre “Don’t worry. I’m sure there’s something here that you’re good at. You just have to try things out.”</p><p>“But I don’t…” Percy grumbled.</p><p>Damon grabbed his arm and pulled him away from Chiron “You can’t expect everything to work out on your first try. If you want to learn archery, I can teach you? But it might take a lot of work. Not everyone has an affinity for it.”</p><p>“You think you could show me how to do it?” Percy asked “I didn’t really understand what Chiron was trying to say and… well…”</p><p>Damon nudged Percy “You only had to ask,” he offered and walked back towards the end of the range. He stepped to the side, letting Percy take the spot directly in front of the target “Archery has a lot to do with the right stance.” He strapped the bow to his back, adjusting Percy’s stance, making him loosen up his muscles “You should always stand like this to the target if you can. Now, with the bow, you hold it like this.” Damon got in the right position and drew the empty bowstring back “Aim and…” He let go, making the string snap back into position “There you go. Now, you try.” Damon handed the bow over, guiding Percy’s hands up in the right position “Like this. Now breathe… Draw the string back when you inhale and let it go as you exhale.”</p><p>Percy followed Damon’s directions, repeating the action again and again “That’s good,” Damon told him before handing over the arrow “Here. Try this. Just do the same thing you just did but remember to breathe.”</p><p>Damon flinched when the arrow once against started ricocheting off several trees, hitting the ground by their feet “How…” He shook his head and took one look at Percy’s embarrassed expression before he sighed. He hesitated for a moment before stepping closer to Percy’s back. He grabbed another arrow out of the quiver at his side and once again guided Percy’s hands, drawing the arrow back “Aim at the target and…” They let go, watching the arrow fly towards the target, hitting the outer ring.</p><p>“I did it?” Percy asked, his eyes wide. He could feel Damon’s warmth at his back, causing him to blush “I… Thank you.”</p><p>Damon took a step back, ignoring the feeling of disappointment in his chest at the action “You’re welcome. Archery is a lot about practice, about reading the weather and the environment and adjusting your stance to it. It takes time to really master it.”</p><p>“I think that makes sense,” Percy nodded, bouncing on the balls of his feet “Can you show me how you shoot again?”</p><p>“Sure,” Damon inclined his head and took back the bow.</p><hr/><p>Over the next couple of days, Damon watched as Percy struggled to find something he both excelled at and enjoyed and it wasn’t until his first sword-fighting lesson with Luke that Damon really saw a change. He leaned back against the table that held the practice swords, watching as they started with the basic stabbing and slashing as warm-up before they moved into pairs.</p><p>“Good luck,” Travis Stoll grinned, hitting Percy on the back when he got partnered with Luke “Luke’s the best swordsman in the last three hundred years. Well, one of the best here. I think Damon and Luke are on about the same level.”</p><p>“Maybe he’ll go easy on me,” Percy sighed, sounding hopeful. Travis snorted as he walked off, muttering something about Luke pancaking the newbie before they were gonna find out who his parent is.</p><p>Luke started showing off several parries and thrusts, how to shield and block and Damon could see Percy sagging with every swipe “Keep your guard up, Percy,” Luke advised, keeping up the steady stream of hits “No, not that far up. Lunge. Now, back.”</p><p>By the time he called for a break, Percy looked and sounded close to dying. He was soaked in sweat, completely out of breath. The others from Cabin eleven immediately swarmed the drinks cooler, gulping down the cool water. Damon sat up straighter when Percy went to pour water over his head… Now, this was going to be interesting.</p><p>“Okay, everybody. Circle up,” Luke ordered “If Percy doesn’t mind, I want to give you a little demo.” He told everyone he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique and walked them through each step. Basically, what you were going to do, you twist the enemy’s blame with the flat of your own sword to make the other person drop their weapon. It really worked well once you were in the right position to do it “This is difficult. I’ve had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique.” He demonstrated the move in slow motion, making Percy’s sword hit the sand “Now in real-time. We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?”</p><p>The following show was amazing. For a beginner, Percy was holding himself really well. He saw the attacks coming and countered, even attacking on his own. Luke slowly put more and more of his skills into the fight. That went alright until Percy tried the manoeuvre. His blade hit the base of Luke’s as he twisted it. Luke’s blade rattled against the stones with the tip of Percy’s blade only an inch away from his undefended chest.</p><p>Damon jumped from the table, making his way through the stunned crowd “That was good. See? I told you that you’d find something you’re good at.”</p><p>Luke looked stunned for a moment before his face broke into a huge grin “By the Gods, Percy. Show me that again.” Damon backed away immediately, watching his older friends with a frown. Luke felt off… He was different from the Luke he had come to like. It was hidden well but Damon could see how bitter Luke had gotten about the whole incident a couple of years ago.</p><p>“I do wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword,” Luke mused, shooting Damon a quick look “How about it, Damon. You, me and two swords?”</p><p>Damon choked on a laugh, his head too willing to think of an innuendo “Sorry, Luke, you’re not really my type.”</p><p>Luke’s face reddened slightly as most of the Campers around them snickered “That’s not what I…” He shook his head “You know what? You asked for it.” Without a word of warning, he lunged at Damon with his sword drawn.</p><p>Damon pushed Percy to the side, rolling out of the way of the blade. When he was back on his feet, he held his own sword “Come on, then. Although I haven’t trained for a while.”</p><p>“Then I might actually have a chance,” Luke grinned cheekily, moving to attack a second time.</p><p>The two of them traded quick blows, both attacking and defending in equal parts. Damon had to use several of his tricks to stop Luke from nicking him with the blade. The longer he fought, the more he realised how weak his wrist had gotten and just when he was sure that he would have to forfeit, he managed to get Luke into a position where he could win. At the same time, Luke had also managed to put Damon into an equal position.</p><p>They looked at each other “Draw?” Damon suggested, panting.</p><p>“Draw,” Luke agreed, lowering his sword with a grin.</p><p>Damon stretched, turning his sword back into the bracelet he had gotten from his father years ago. He wiped the sweat from his face and massaged his wrist gently. The sword had been heavy enough to put a strain on the previously injured bone.</p><p>“You okay?” Luke asked, handing the younger boy a bottle of water.</p><p>Damon nodded “Yeah. My wrist is still a bit iffy. Should be nothing though.”</p><p>“Holy crap,” Percy gushed as they walked out of the arena a little while later “How are you so good at that?”</p><p>“Perce, I’ve been practising for years, so it’s no wonder that I’m good,” Damon shrugged modestly. He didn’t like bragging about the things he could do “With practice I think you can get even better than that.”</p><p>“You think so?”</p><p>Damon shrugged “I know so.”</p><hr/><p>The next afternoon, Damon saw on the pier with Grover and Percy, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving.</p><p>“I heard you had another talk with D, Grover,” Damon spoke up, raising his head from where it had been resting on Percy’s lap.</p><p>Grover looked down at the naiads “Mr D suspended judgement. He said he thought about it again and since I neither failed nor succeeded with Percy yet, our fates are still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you and we both came back alive, then maybe he’d consider the job complete.”</p><p>Damon smiled at the Satyr “At least you still have a chance. Not all is lost.”</p><p>“Did you have anything to do with that?” Grover questioned, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.</p><p>“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Damon shot back with a grin.</p><p>“That’s not so bad, right?” Percy asked, looking from Grover to Damon, trying to follow their conversation.</p><p>“Blaa-ha-ha. He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty,” Grover exclaimed “The chances of you getting a quest… and even if you did, why would you want me along?”</p><p>Percy jerked, almost making Damon fall into the water “Of course I’d want you along. Both you and Damon.”</p><p>“Aww,” Damon cooed playfully, laughing when Percy tugged at his hair.</p><p>Grover, on the other hand, stared into the water glumly “Basket-weaving… Must be nice to have a useful skill.”</p><p>Damon was about to open his mouth to reassure Grover but if he was being honest, he hadn’t yet seen the Satyr being good at anything. He was a good friend but other than that, he had problems with most other things.</p><p>“Damon?” Percy spoke up after a bit of silence “What exactly did you inherit from your father?”</p><p>“Well, you know about the archery already. There’s also the fact that I’m not too good with lying… Never tell a woman that the dress she is wearing makes her look fat. It’s not going to end well.” He shuddered. He was never going to go shopping with Pepper again “I also have a bit of skill with healing and music.”</p><p>“Music?” Grover perked up “I knew that your siblings do the sing-alongs but you never really show up there anymore. I thought you just didn’t like music.”</p><p>Damon stared at him “That… is not music. What is the point of the sing-alongs anyway? They’re stupid. Music is about expressing yourself, not being as obnoxious as possible.”</p><p>“You… Do you write your own songs?” Percy asked, his face turning red “Can you… I mean, would you mind…”</p><p>“Sure,” Damon shrugged, sitting up “This one is mostly about demigod life and how fucked up it is.” He closed his eyes, the melody playing in his mind.</p><p>“<em>Like a small boat on the ocean</em></p><p>
  <em>Sending big waves into motion</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Like how a single word</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Can make a heart open</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I might only have one match</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But I can make an explosion<br/><br/></em>
</p><p>
  <em>And all those things I didn't say</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Wrecking balls inside my brain</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I will scream them loud tonight</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Can you hear my voice?</em>
</p><p>
  <em><br/>This time this is my fight song</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Take back my life song</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Prove I'm alright song</em>
</p><p>
  <em>My powers turned on</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Starting right now I'll be strong</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I'll play my fight song</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And I don't really care</em>
</p><p>
  <em>If nobody else believes</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cause I've still got</em>
</p><p><em>A lot of fight left in me.</em>”</p><p>Damon stopped, staring out onto the water, a faraway look on his face “That’s everything I have at the moment. Haven’t gotten very far with that yet.”</p><p>“That was awesome,” Percy grinned excitedly.</p><p>Grover nodded in agreement “You’re really good, Day. And the lyrics were nice as well. Can you tell me when you’re done? I’d love to hear the full song.”</p><p>Damon looked at him in surprise “Sure.” The only people who knew that he loved everything to do with music were his dad and Pepper but even they were too busy with work to listen to him more than a couple of times “Listen, guys, I’ll see you later. I have to get my medkit sorted out for the game later.”</p><hr/><p>That evening after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual. As soon as the plates were cleared, the conch horn sounded and the others all stood at their tables. Damon moved over to join Mr D, Chiron and Argus at their table, pulling on his red sweatshirt.</p><p>Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two more Athena kids ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long and grey with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the other side of the pavilion, Clarisse and two of her siblings entered with another banner. This one was a blood-red with the painting of a bloody spear and a boar’s head on it.</p><p>The last thing that needed to be done before they could get started was the announcement of the teams. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes while Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite and Hephaestus. Pollux and Castor were good athletes but, well, they were only two. Demeter’s children had an edge in the forest with their nature skills but neither they nor Aphrodite’s children were all too aggressive. Not saying that none of them would fight if the situation asked for it but they wouldn’t if they didn’t have to. That left Hephaestus and Ares on their team. They definitely made up for the missing number in people in Damon’s opinion. Clarisse and her siblings were good fighters although they tended to rely too much on brute force rather than strategize. And the Hephaestus children were… buff to say the least. After all, they tended to work in the metal shop most days, so their strength wasn’t something to joke about. All in all, the teams were about evenly matched.</p><p>“Heroes,” Chiron announced “You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic along with Damon here. Arm yourselves!” He spread his hands and the tables filled with equipment. Helmets, bronze swords, spears, ox-hide shields coated in metal and more.</p><p>Damon stayed with Chiron for most of the fight, staying close to the border for most of the time with Chiron occasionally taking rounds through the forest. Splashing to his right, caught Damon’s attention after a while causing him to go investigate.</p><p>Percy was standing in the creek with Clarisse and the other Ares Campers walking in to get at him. Damon was ready to break them up when Percy swung his sword against the first guy’s head and knocked his helmet clean off, making him crumple into the water. Damon hurried over to the almost unconscious kid, making sure he wouldn’t drown himself by accident.</p><p>“Ah,” Clarisse screamed enraged “You idiot. You corpse-breath worm.” She would have probably said worse but Percy hit her between the eyes with the butt of his sword, sending her stumbling backwards out of the creek. Damon shook his head with a sigh… at least they had a hard head. He was a bit surprised that this one even had a concussion at all but he guessed that Percy didn’t temper the strength the water had given him.</p><p>Elated yelling sounded though the forest as Luke came racing towards the boundary line with the red team’s banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys who were covering his retreat and a couple of Damon’s siblings behind them, fighting with Hephaestus’ kids.</p><p>“A trick,” Clarisse shouted “It was a trick.” They stumbled after Luke – apart from the kid who Damon was still treating.</p><p>He was trying to get up but Damon held him “Stay down,” Damon huffed, pressing a hand to the other boy’s shoulder as his face turned green “I don’t need you puking all over me.” A game wasn’t worth risking a more permanent head injury.</p><p>Everyone converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. The blue side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned into silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, Hermes’ symbol. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.</p><p>Before they could continue their celebration though, a canine growl sounded close by. Damon hurried to Percy’s side, guessing that whatever was here was there for him. He readied his swords, taking position before the other demigod just as a hellhound the size of a rhino appeared on the rocks just above them. Annabeth tried to pull Percy back as the hellhound got ready to jump. Damon backed up against Percy, trying to herd him back a little but the other boy was frozen in fear. The hellhound leapt over several Campers and would have landed right on Damon and Percy if the son of Apollo hadn’t ducked down, thrusting his sword into the hound’s chest. At the same time as Damon’s sword sliced into its stomach, a volley of arrows hit its neck, making it collapse onto the ground.</p><p>“Are you alright?” Damon asked, looking Percy over. The hellhound had sliced his chest with his claws, making blood drip down his torso. Damon looked around, locking eyes with Chiron for a moment before he pulled Percy with him into the creek. He wasn’t certain it would work but it was the only choice he had with everyone watching him. With everything Damon had learned about Percy, he was more than sure that Percy was indeed the son of Poseidon. It would make so much sense but there was only one way of finding out “Percy, you have to get into the water,” Damon whispered.</p><p>“I’m okay,” he shook his head, leaning on him heavily.</p><p>Damon snorted “You’re not okay. Just step into the water, please.”</p><p>Percy sighed and stepped back into the creek, the whole Camp’s attention suddenly on him. He frowned in confusion when the Campers gasped. They were watching the wounds on Percy’s chest knit close before a sign appeared above the boy’s head “Look, I – I don’t know why,” he tried to apologize “I’m sorry…”</p><p>“Percy,” Annabeth cleared her throat, pointing to the sign over his head “Um… Your father. This is really not good.”</p><p>“It is determined,” Chiron announced. All around Percy, the Campers started kneeling. Damon slowly sank to one knee, watching Percy’s expression in amusement. He really had no idea about the shit storm that his life was going to turn into. If he thought he had it bad before, it was about to get so much worse.</p><p>“My father?” Percy blinked, completely bewildered.</p><p>“Poseidon,” Chiron said “Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. The Quest</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ever since Poseidon had claimed Percy, he had become an outside. No one really wanted much to do with him. Well, no one but Grover, Luke and Damon. Annabeth was still tutoring him but even she was acting like he was a mass-murderer or something. That girl took the hatred between Athena and Poseidon a bit too personal.</p><p>“Can I come in?” Damon asked after knocking on the door to Percy’s new cabin.</p><p>“Sure,” he sighed, crumpling a paper between his hands.</p><p>Damon threw himself down on the bed next to him, frowning at the paper curiously “What’s that about?”</p><p>Percy hesitated for a moment before he handed the article over. Damon scanned it with a grimace “Ugliano,” he sounded out “That guy sounds as if he’s as bad as his name.”</p><p>That got a little grin out of the other boy “You have no idea how right you are, Day. If anything he’s worse than his name and smells like fifteen times worse.”</p><p>“My condolences.” Damon let out a huge yawn, too tired to move and snuggled into the pillow behind him. His lack of sleep was slowly catching up with him and now that he was lying down, he really didn’t want to get up anymore “If you want me out of here, you better tell me quickly. I’m not getting up in five minutes.”</p><p>“No, no,” Percy shook his head “You can stay if you want. It’s too empty here anyway.”</p><p>“Good,” Damon mumbled, his eyes drifting shut. He could feel Percy getting up from the bed they had been sitting on and cracked one of his eyes open “What are you doing?”</p><p>Percy blinked at him in confusion “I’ll just use another bed.” Damon rolled his eyes and pulled him back down, moving closer to his heat. After a few tense moments, Percy relaxed and snorted, wrapping an arm around Damon’s waist “Okay, then. Goodnight, Damon.”</p><p>“Night.”</p><hr/><p>Damon woke up in the early hours of the morning to his pillow moving around. He frowned in confusion, squinting through the darkness to see Percy tossing around. He had slept extremely well, so it took him a moment to realise that Percy was having a nightmare “Percy,” he called, shaking his shoulder. Percy shot up, grasping at Damon’s arm tightly “Percy? Calm down… You’re safe.”</p><p>“What just happened?” he mumbled, rubbing at his eyes.</p><p>Damon shrugged “You were dreaming. And nothing good at that.”</p><p>“It was weird,” Percy remembered “There were these two men and they were fighting. Then there was this voice, this laughter from under the earth… and a voice.”</p><p>Damon winced at the description. Demigod dreams were the worst “A voice?” he questioned.</p><p>“It was evil, so evil,” Percy shivered “And it wanted me to come to it… Damon, what was that?”</p><p>“From what you told me, a demigod dream. They are annoying but usually pretty accurate. Although, I’m not sure whose voice that could have been. Can you describe the dream a bit more?” He listened to Percy, a couple of pieces falling into place. Hades was a likely subject but something felt off about that. Why would he care for Zeus and Poseidon’s fight? He might have been mad about them both breaking the oath but Damon couldn’t see him as the evil overlord type person Percy was describing.</p><p>They turned to the door when a clopping sound and a knock echoed through the cabin “Come in?”</p><p>Grover trotted inside, looking worried “Mr D wants to see you. We’ll only have to get – Damon? What are you doing here?”</p><p>Damon grinned at him sheepishly and rolled out of the bunk “I fell asleep here. Percy was comfortable.” When Grover raised his eyebrows in amusement, Damon shook his head “What does D want?”</p><p>“He wants to kill… I mean, I’d better let him tell you two.”</p><p>Percy nodded and went to the bathroom to get dressed, while Damon was tugging at his clothes from yesterday. He looked a bit rumpled but it wasn’t like he cared about how he looked while here.</p><p>When they were outside, Damon looked up at the sky. It looked like ink soup coming to a boil. A hazy curtain of rain was coming in their direction. It should pass right over the Camp like it usually does but from the looks of it, Damon wasn’t too sure about it. With how mad Zeus seemed to be, it was sure to rain soon.</p><p>“What the heck is that then?” Percy exclaimed, pointing at the storm.</p><p>Damon startled out of my thoughts and turned back to the other two. Grover glanced up uneasily “It’ll pass around us. Bad weather always does.”</p><p>At the volleyball pit, four Apollo Campers were playing a morning game against the Satyrs. Castor and Pollux were walking around the strawberry fields. Basically, everyone was going what they usually did, although Damon caught more than one wary look up at the sky. They all were slightly nervous about the approaching storm.</p><p>D was sitting at the Pinochle table in his blindingly ugly Hawaiian shirt, holding a Diet Coke. He looked unhappy about the very fact that the can even existed but Damon knew that Chiron wouldn’t give him a drink. If he wanted one, he had to wait for Damon. As long as Chiron could pretend to not know about it, he really didn’t care “Well, well,” Mr D drawled without looking up “Our little celebrity.”</p><p>Damon winced in sympathy, moving to go inside to grab a drink. Really, whose idea was it to make the God of Wine stop drinking alcohol? He was made to drink, so being sober wouldn’t actually help him one bit. He quickly pulled out everything he needed for a Dark ‘n’ Stormy that he remembered the recipe for and handed it to Dionysus.</p><p>“If I had my way,” Dionysus started before taking the glass from Damon “I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We’d sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed Camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm.”</p><p>Damon snorted as Dionysus took a deep drink of the glass “I think that spontaneous combustions is a form of harm.”</p><p>“That’s what I said,” Chiron nodded.</p><p>“Nonsense,” he waved them off “Boy wouldn’t feel a thing. Nevertheless, I’ve agreed to restrain myself. I’m thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father.”</p><p>Chiron sighed and looked up warningly “Mr D…”</p><p>“Oh, alright,” D relented “There’s only one more option but it’s deadly foolishness.” He drained his glass and the invisible players’ cards dropped to the table “I’m off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the boy is still here when I get back, I’ll turn him into an Arctic bottlenose. Do you understand? And Perseus Jackson, if you’re at all smart, you’ll see that’s a much more sensible choice than what Chiron feels you must do.”</p><p>“Way to encourage a guy, uncle,” Damon rolled his eyes, hopping onto the railing as Dionysus picked up one of the playing cards, twisted it and snapped his fingers. The air bent and folded around him. He became a hologram, then a wind and then he was gone.</p><p>Chiron sighed, looking tired and strained “Sit, Percy, please. Grover, Damon.”</p><p>The two others did, while Damon moved to lean back against one of the support beams, staying exactly where he was. Why anyone would choose a chair to sit in if you had another option, he didn’t know. It was so boring.</p><p>“Tell me, Percy,” Chiron started “What did you make of the hellhound?”</p><p>Percy fidgeted “It scared me,” he admitted quietly “If you hadn’t shot it and Damon hadn’t been there… I’d be dead.”</p><p>“You’ll meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you’re done.”</p><p>“Done… with what?” Percy asked in confusion. Damon played with his bracelets, only waiting for Chiron to drop the ball. He was pretty sure he knew what he wanted them to do.</p><p>Chiron raised an eyebrow “Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?”</p><p>Percy’s gaze turned to Damon, pleading with him to help. He looked up and shrugged. It was Percy’s choice whether he felt ready for it but if he didn’t do it, he was sure D would make true on his threat. There wasn’t much of a choice. Either he died on the quest or he died staying here.</p><p>“Um, sir. You haven’t told me what it is yet,” Percy pointed out with a small frown.</p><p>The centaur grimaced “Well, that’s the hard part, the details.” Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach and as far as the eye could see, the sky and sea were boiling together.</p><p>“Poseidon and Zeus,” Percy hesitated “They’re fighting over something valuable… something that was stolen, aren’t they?”</p><p>“Oh, for the –” Damon burst out in annoyance, jumping down from the railing to pace next to the table. Why couldn’t people just come to the point? “They want you to get Zeus’ master bolt. Someone stole it at the Winter Solstice meeting, I think.”</p><p>Chiron and Grover exchanged a shocked look “How do you two know that?”</p><p>“The weather has been weird since Christmas,” Percy explained, throwing Damon a panicked look “Like the sea and the sky are fighting. Then I talked to Annabeth and she overheard something about a theft. And… I’ve also been having these dreams.”</p><p>“I knew it,” Grover crowed.</p><p>“Hush, Satyr,” Chiron ordered “And you, Damon?”</p><p>He shrugged “I’m not stupid. It’s all in the details. The weather, the fact that all of a sudden a son of Poseidon seems to be in the middle of everything, the weather, Mrs Dodds, the hellhound, Percy’s dreams… Did I mention the weather? Mix all that together and you have your solution.”</p><p>“I – I still don’t get how you got the master bolt from that,” Grover frowned.</p><p>“It’s easy,” Damon shrugged, placing his hands on Grover’s shoulders “Zeus is way too mad for it to just be the fact that Poseidon broke the oath. It’s not like he didn’t do the exact same thing, after all. Now, what does Zeus love more than anything else? His stupid toy. Plus, haven’t you noticed?” He pointed at the sky outside of the shields “With all the thunder, the lightning is missing. It’s a dead giveaway.”</p><p>Everyone stared at him in surprise until Chiron managed to shake himself “Are you sure that Apollo is your father?” When Damon shot him an annoyed look, he just shook his head “Only the Oracle can determine. Nevertheless, Percy, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over the master bolt.”</p><p>“So it was stolen?” Percy asked “By who?”</p><p>“By whom,” Chiron corrected, earning an annoyed look from the two teenagers “By you. At least, that’s what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the Gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. The usual nonsense: ‘Mother Rhea always liked you best’ ‘Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters’ etcetera. Afterwards, Zeus realised his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon. Now, a God cannot usurp another God’s symbol of power directly – that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it.”</p><p>Percy was looking from one person to the other, gaping “But it didn’t –”</p><p>“Patience and listen, child,” Chiron chided “Zeus had good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclops are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother’s lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt and is now secretly having the Cyclops build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne. The only thing Zeus wasn’t sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in New York over the winter holidays. You could easily have snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief.”</p><p>“And the fact that Percy didn’t even know about this whole shit doesn’t tell him anything?” Grover spoke up with a frown.</p><p>Damon rolled his eyes “No one ever accused him of being the sharpest tool in the shed.”</p><p>“Damon,” Chiron exclaimed “Respect.”</p><p>“Why? I think we can all acknowledge that is a paranoid idiot,” Damon shrugged, glancing at the sky in amusement. What a drama queen.</p><p>“What he said,” Percy nodded “Zeus is crazy if he thinks I did this.”</p><p>Grover cleared his throat nervously “Er, Percy…? We don’t use the c-word to describe the Lord of the Sky.”</p><p>Damon smirked “Still the truth.” He was turning the facts over in his mind and didn’t get how Zeus came to the conclusion that Poseidon sent his son. It was suicide and he didn’t think anyone could be stupid enough to not see that. The reason Percy only surfaced now was because of necessity. Damon was sure that he would have remained hidden if not for the theft of the master bolt. Also, why would he need the real one to make copies of the lightning bolt… Why would he want the master bolt? None of this made any sense. The only thing it would be sure to do was… Oh. No way. Right? “Look, if you get the quest and want me to come with you, you know where to find me, Percy. I can’t listen to this any longer.”</p><p>“Alright,” Percy nodded, watching Damon walk off with a frown. He could see him rubbing at his head and instantly felt bad about drawing him into his problems while Damon had a fair share of shit to deal with on his own.</p><hr/><p>Damon didn’t have a lot of silence before Percy, Grover and – much to his chagrin – Annabeth come looking for him. He groaned and shoved his notebook into his bag “So, I guess, you’re the lucky unlucky bastard?” he remarked.</p><p>Percy sighed, flopping down on the grass next to the other boy “I guess so. Look, we have to get to the Underworld which is in –”</p><p>“LA,” Damon interrupted “I know. Well, technically it’s in Hollywood but you know. Same thing.”</p><p>“How would you know that?” Annabeth frowned, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.</p><p>Damon grinned at her “Because I’m from Malibu and I wandered into the Underworld by accident before. You do the Math.”</p><p>“We better pack now,” Percy pointed out, sensing an argument coming “We’ll leave this afternoon.”</p><p>Damon stood with a groan and offered his hand to Percy “Sir, yes, sir. Don’t worry, Percy. We’ll get this done… somehow.”</p><p>“I really hope so. Thank you… You know, for coming with me,” he whispered when the others had left.</p><p>Damon shrugged “I don’t have many friends but the ones I do have, I’d do a lot for. Plus, I think I have enough resources to get us across the country.”</p><p>“How?” Percy blinked.</p><p>“I’ll text dad’s driver slash bodyguard to pick us up in Vegas. We’re on our own till there but I do have credit cards so…” Damon shrugged “It’s up to you what we do but as a backup, it’s worth considering.”</p><p>Percy shook his head “I don’t want to use your money.”</p><p>“Percy… I have more than enough whether we spend a couple thousand or not,” Damon explained “I guess that’s the advantage of being the heir to a multi-billion-dollar company.”</p><p>Percy’s eyes widened “I didn’t even think about that. You’re going to inherit Stark Industries if you’re dad…” When he caught sight of Damon’s expression, he winced “Sorry. I didn’t mean…”</p><p>“No, no,” Damon shook his head with a tired smile “I think it’s time I take the possibility into consideration… He’s been gone for so long.”</p><p>Percy pulled Damon into a hug “Well, if you need to talk…”</p><p>“Thanks. Really.”</p><p>“You’re welcome. Now, let’s go pack,” Percy grinned, ruffling Damon’s hair.</p><hr/><p>Damon packed quickly and headed over to Poseidon Cabin. Percy looked at him with a raised eyebrow “So… How come you have a credit card already?”</p><p>“Well, I told you who my father is,” Damon shrugged “It’s not like it would come to a surprise that we have a driver as well. I can text him but I really don’t want him to have to drive further than Vegas…”</p><p>“Right,” Percy shook his head in amusement “I forgot you were a rich kid. You don’t act anything like it, so it’s really easy to forget.”</p><p>Damon grinned “What can I say? I’m awesome.”</p><p>Percy snorted “Sure you are.” He had a bag packed within minutes and looked around unsurely “So, what now?”</p><p>“Camp Store,” Damon pointed out “See if there’s anything you need from there. Plus, I need to stock up my first-aid kit. I’m running low on bandages…”</p><p>Percy and Damon walked through the store, Percy checking out everything curiously. He wanted to get some mortal money but Damon stopped him. It wasn’t as if they needed to grab some if he could pay. He had too much money as it was. Better to use it on something like this than have Tony use it for alcohol. Even if he wasn’t as much of a drunk as the media was trying to make him out to be.</p><p>Percy insisted on getting some drachmas though. The coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies – Damon hated those but Tony was addicted to them. Whenever someone came up to the house, he bought at least ten boxes and would live on the stuff for as long as he could.</p><p>Chiron met them at the border and handed a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag for ambrosia each to Annabeth and Percy, raising an eyebrow at Damon “You already have some, I imagine?”</p><p>Damon inclined his head “I have enough for all of us. But some extra is always a good idea.”</p><p>“Good. Take care of them, would you?” Chiron whispered. He knew that Annabeth was good but Damon was one of the best fighters they had and he knew exactly how dangerous it was out there. Annabeth was still a dreamer in that department. At first, he hadn’t been sure whether to send her along but Damon would take care of them – and hopefully bring everyone back alive.</p><p>Annabeth was bringing her invisibility magic Yankees cap which she had gotten from Athena, along with a book on classical architecture and a long bronze knife. Grover wore his fake feet and pants to pass as a human. His backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket were reed pipes even though he could only play like two songs that don’t translate to reed pipes. Every time Damon heard him play, he would swear that his ears started bleeding. He was that bad.</p><p>As he walked past, Damon stroked a hand over the bark of Thalia’s tree, whispering goodbye to her. He hadn’t met her but she was a victim in all of the fighting and no one deserved that. Everyone else just assumed that she wouldn’t notice anything while practically dead under the three but how could they be sure? Whenever he had gotten sick of people, he came here to think. Thalia was good at listening and that was something he needed when his thoughts got too much for him. The combination between his brain, ADHD and dyslexia sometimes made his thoughts even more jumbled than they normally were and he could barely keep up with all the ideas he had.</p><p>Chiron was waiting with Argus “This is Argus,” he told Percy “He will drive you into the city and – we – will keep an eye on things.”</p><p>“Hey,” Luke panted, running up to the group of three with a pair of basketball shoes clutched in his hand “Glad I caught you. Just wanted to say good luck and I thought… um… Maybe you could use these.” He handed the sneakers to Percy who looked at them in confusion. Luke managed a small grin “Maia.” White bird’s wings sprouted out of the heels, making Percy drop the shoes in shock. They flapped around uselessly until the wings folded up and disappeared back into the shoe.</p><p>Damon turned away from the others, rolling his eyes at Annabeth’s blushing and stuttering. Her crush on Luke was so obvious and it actually annoyed Damon a little. Puppy love was one thing but Annabeth almost took it too far with how hateful she was to some girls who talked to Luke.</p><p>“Damon,” Luke called, opening his arms for a hug.</p><p>Damon grinned, trying to erase the tiredness from his face “Are you sure that’s all you want from me?” he teased.</p><p>“Shut up,” he slugged Damon in the back of the head and pulled him into an embrace “Be careful, will you?”</p><p>“Yes, chief,” Damon saluted and rolled his eyes “I’m not a baby, Luke. It’s the others who you should pity for having to spend time with me.”</p><p>Luke snorted “You’re right. You’re an absolute monster.”</p><p>Damon shrugged unrepentantly “Of course. Bye, Luke.”</p><p>After Luke was gone, Percy looked over at Annabeth and smirked “You’re hyperventilating.”</p><p>“Am not,” she gaped.</p><p>“You let him capture the flag instead of you, didn’t you?” Percy asked knowingly.</p><p>Annabeth glared at him “Oh… Why do I go anywhere with you, Percy?” She stomped down the other side of the hill where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed her silently, jiggling his car keys.</p><p>“She’s so obvious,” Damon remarked and walked down the hill with a small nod to Chiron. At the car, he turned back around when he heard a shouted “Maia.” Grover was flying down the hill sideways like Dum-E when he had gotten into the motor oil again. Gods, he loved that little, annoying AI so much. Despite the fact that he, U and Butterfingers were AIs, they were as good as Damon’s older brothers. Both them and Jarvis.</p><p>“Why do you have a phone?” Annabeth asked as soon as Damon climbed into the SUV. She had been watching him when he had started texting someone earlier. If he got them killed, she would make him regret it.</p><p>Damon barely looked up “I designed and made it. I’ve had a phone for four years now and I never got attacked because of it.”</p><p>“As if,” Annabeth scoffed “You’re a son of Apollo.”</p><p>“So you’re saying…. What? All my siblings are stupid? My father is stupid? It’s not like he is God of Knowledge or my some of my siblings are Healers. What can you do, huh? Read books? Make plans? Great... That's a skill. Listen, Annabeth. I don’t like you and you don’t like me. That’s fine but we’re here to help Percy and hopefully get out of this stupid quest with our lives intact,” he started patiently. Normally, he would just ignore her but he really didn’t care for listening to insults over the next couple days. “I didn’t…” Annabeth started. She was cut off by Percy climbing into the car, looking thoughtful.</p><p>Damon looked at him when Argus pulled away “You good?”</p><p>“Yeah,” he nodded “I’m fine.”</p><hr/><p>Traffic slowed them down in Queens and by the time they got into Manhattan it was already sunset and it had started raining. Argus dropped off at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side.</p><p>Damon moved over to a mailbox, blinking at a soggy flyer with Percy’s picture on it. “HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY?” He quickly ripped it off and threw it away before the other two could notice it. Argus unloaded their bags, made sure they had their bus tickets before he drove away with one of his eyes watching them until he was out of sight.</p><p>“You want to know why she married him, Percy?” Grover asked, following Percy’s line of sight.</p><p>“Were you reading my mind or something?” Percy blinked slowly.</p><p>Grover shrugged “Just your emotions. Guess I forgot to tell you Satyrs can do that. You were thinking about your mum and step-dad, right?” He smiled sadly when Percy nodded “Your mum married Gave for you. You call him ‘Smelly’ but you have no idea. The guy had this aura… Yuck. I can smell him from here. I can smell traces of him on you and you haven’t been near him for a week.”</p><p>“Thanks,” Percy grimaced, sniffing at his clothes “Where’s the nearest shower?”</p><p>“You should be grateful, Percy. Your stepfather smells so repulsively human, he could mask the presence of any demigod. As soon as I took a whiff inside his Camaro, I know. Gabe has been covering your scent for years. If you hadn’t lived with him every summer, you probably would’ve been found by monsters a long time ago. Your mum stayed with him to protect you. She was a smart lady. She must have loved you a lot to put up with that guy – if that makes you feel any better.” Percy paled the longer Grover talked and looked ready to cry.</p><p>Damon shot the Satyr a glare “Grover, shut up, would you? I don’t think you’re helping the matter any.”</p><p>“It’s fine, Day,” Percy whispered, wiping at his eyes.</p><p>“Perce, your mum loved you and that’s what you should focus on, alright? Let’s get this quest over with and then you can see where you stand.”</p><p>The rain kept coming down hard. While the other three started playing around with one of Grover’s apples, Damon started fiddling with his phone. He was texting Jarvis about one of his recent designs, trying to figure out why it wasn’t working the way it should.</p><p>‘<strong>Try looking it over again, young sir,</strong>’ Jarvis encouraged, causing Damon to groan out loud.</p><p>‘<strong>Can’t you just tell me? I have been trying to find the error for ages</strong>.’</p><p>Damon could practically hear Jarvis’ tone when the reply came ‘<strong>Where would be the fun in that?</strong>’ Sometimes it felt like his dad gave Jarvis a bit too much personality although Damon loved it. He loved how real it made him.</p><p>“What are you doing?” Annabeth questioned nosily, peaking at the screen over Damon’s shoulder.</p><p>Damon shook his head and turned the screen off “Nothing. Just a bit of a problem I’ve been trying to solve for a while.”</p><p>“And what would that be?”</p><p>“None of your business,” Damon sighed and ran a hand through his wet hair.</p><p>“What the…” Percy stuttered, having caught a glimpse of the screen as well “I mean, I knew your… well, you know… is a genius but I – that – What is that even supposed to be?”</p><p>Damon snorted at him “Blueprints for a tablet. I’m trying for a hologram but it’s not working right. It was supposed to be a phone but I don’t really think I can make the components… Oh.” He started tapping on the phone, talking to Jarvis about the idea he just had.</p><p>Percy’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times and even Grover was staring at Damon in surprise “Are you sure you’re not related to Hephaestus?”</p><p>“Pretty sure, yes,” Damon nodded distractedly.</p><p>“Then how?” Grover blinked “I mean, dyslexia and…”</p><p>Damon shrugged “It’s hard but I learned to deal with it. Plus, I have some help at home with someone looking over my work.”</p><hr/><p>When the bus came, Grover started looking around nervously, sniffing the air. Percy frowned at him “What is it?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Grover gave back tensely “Maybe it’s nothing.”</p><p>For some reason, Damon knew it wasn’t nothing. Something was coming for them and it was going to be a nightmare. They were just happy when they finally made it onto the bus and huddled in the back.</p><p>As the last passengers got on, Damon stiffened “Annabeth?”</p><p>“Crap,” she cursed when she looked up, having noticed the old woman as well “Percy.” The woman was wearing a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves and a shapeless orange knit hat that shadowed her face. When she tilted her head up, Damon winced and had to actively stop himself from cringing when two more old ladies stepped onto the bus. Now they had not one but three Furies to deal with.</p><p>The bus pulled out of the station, heading through the slick streets of Manhattan. Damon leaned his head against the back window when he saw the former Stark Expo building that Howards had used until 1974.</p><p>“She didn’t stay dead long,” Percy whispered, his voice quivering slightly “I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime.”</p><p>“I said if you’re lucky,” Annabeth stressed “You’re obviously not.”</p><p>Grover whimpered “All three of them. Di immortals.”</p><p>“It’s okay,” Annabeth tried to soothe “The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We’ll just slip out the windows.”</p><p>“They don’t open,” Damon pointed out, analysing their chances. At the moment, they were practically zero. The Furies had sat down just behind the bus driver, so their way out was blocked.</p><p>“A back exit?” she suggested, knowing that it wasn’t a possibility either. They were sitting at the back, so obviously there wasn’t one.</p><p>“They won’t attack us with witnesses around,” Percy tried to calm them down “Will they?”</p><p>“Mortals don’t have good eyes,” Annabeth reminded him “Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist.”</p><p>Percy sighed in resignation “They’ll see three old ladies killing us, won’t they?”</p><p>Annabeth thought about it for a moment “Hard to say. But we can’t count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof?”</p><p>They hit the Lincoln tunnel then and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. It was eerily quiet without the sound of the rain “No time,” Damon muttered when one of the old women got up.</p><p>In the flattest voice imaginable, as if she’d rehearsed it “I need to use the restroom.”</p><p>“So do I,” the second Fury nodded.</p><p>“So do I,” the third added as they all started coming down the aisle.</p><p>Annabeth inhaled sharply “I got it. Percy, take my hat.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>Damon nodded along with her “It’s you they want. Chances are if you turn invisible and head up to the front, you can get away.”</p><p>“But you guys…” Percy started protesting.</p><p>“There’s a chance that they might not notice us,” Annabeth pointed out “You’re the son of one of the Big Three. Your smell might be overpowering.”</p><p>“I can’t just leave you,” Percy argued.</p><p>Damon hit him in the back of the head “Don’t worry. Just go.” He vanished, causing Damon to take a deep breath “Showtime.”</p><p>One of the Furies stopped, sniffing before the three kept going.</p><p>“Go to the bathroom, both of you,” Damon hissed at Annabeth and Grover, fingering his bracelet.</p><p>Grover looked at the boy with wide eyes “And you?”</p><p>“Don’t worry about me. Go in there and when they pass, head up front to Percy, would you?” Damon really didn’t care much about his life. If he died, he died. It was just a normal day in the life of a demigod. After another long look, they did as he asked.</p><p>Not long after they vanished into the bathroom, Damon was caged in between the three Furies. They were lashing their whips, hissing angrily “Where is it? Where?”</p><p>The other people on the bus started screaming, so they obviously saw something “It?” Damon frowned, looking at the only Fury he knew “What do you mean? Sorry, which one are you again?”</p><p>She blinked at the demigod before she stiffened “Alecto, my Lord,” she answered. It was Damon’s turn to look confused now. What the hell? Why did they call him Lord? He didn’t have any ties to the Underworld, did he?</p><p>“Alecto, then. What is it you’re looking for?” he stalled, watching Annabeth and Grover sneaking past them out of the corner of his eye.</p><p>She squinted at him suspiciously, remembering him from Yancy Academy. In the end, it was one of her sisters who answered him “Lord Hades’ Helm…”</p><p>“Tisiphone,” Alecto hissed.</p><p>Before Damon could respond though, the bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, throwing sparks a mile behind them. He stumbled and fumbled with his bracelet, finally having his sword in hand. When the bus wailed and spun in full circles, he held onto the seat behind him tightly. He quickly ducked past the dazed Furies, grabbed his bag in passing and ran up to the front, where he could run out of the open doorway “Run,” he shouted at the others, sprinting as fast as he could.</p><p>“Our bags,” Grover realised, panting slightly “We left our bags.”</p><p>Damon rolled his eyes “At least, you’re still alive. Plus, I still have mine, so it’s alright.”</p><p>There was a loud wail behind them, causing Annabeth to pick up the pace “Faster. She’s calling for reinforcements. We have to get out of here.”</p><p>They plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus with the Furies inside and nothing but darkness ahead.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hey guys. This is going to be part of my early Christmas present to you guys. I did my best to write for as many Fics as possible for Christmas but the rest didn't work yet. For the Fics that haven't been updated in this wave, I'll try to get an update out till March (I have exams in February, so I should be able to get stuff done until March).</p><p>For those interested, feel free to join my Facebook Group (NicholasFlamel's Corner) where I post snippets of chapters I write, ideas I have and finished/abandoned Fics. Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/687956758591756</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. It's Understandable To Lose Your Head In The Middle of Battle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Sometimes knowing that gods were out there was pretty nice. At least there was someone to blame when things went wrong. They hadn’t even gotten far and already they were going to have to rely on what Damon and Annabeth had learned at Camp. After the bus had blown up, they were pretty much stuck on the other side of the country from where they needed to be. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Grover shivered, his eyes still wide from their earlier encounter with the Furies “Three Kindly Ones. All three at once.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon sighed, already getting annoyed with Percy and Grover’s shocked expressions. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annabeth glanced at him before she grabbed their arms “Come on. The father we get, the better.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“All our money is back there,” Percy reminded them “Our food and clothes. Everything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Speak for yourself. I still have my bag. We can get everything we need and more in the next city,” Damon told them “Shouldn’t be too far from here. We might have to go back a bit but we just passed a town with a bus stop not twenty minutes back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annabeth glared at him “I had everything under control on the bus,” she hissed “You just had to go and interfere, didn’t you? I had a plan.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon closed his eyes for a moment “Annabeth, we’re still alive. That’s all you should be focussing on. We have until the summer solstice to get a fucking lightning bolt and for now, we’re stuck in the woods in the middle of nowhere. I don’t care whether you like me or not but we’re all in this together, so either get over yourself or shut up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I won’t shut up,” she exclaimed, waving her hands around “I’m not thanking you either if that’s what you want. You didn’t need to protect me. I would have been fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sliced like sandwich bread,” Grover put in “But fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annabeth glared at him “This is my chance to be on a quest and you’re ruining it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon glanced from her to Percy before he shook his head “You know what? I’m not arguing with you anymore. You want to be right? Fine, go ahead and get yourself killed because let’s face it. It’s going to happen sooner or later with that attitude. We’re here to help Percy with not getting incinerated. I’d be willing to try and get along with you. While I don’t necessarily like you, we need to stick together for this to work.” He held out his hand, tilting his head to the side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on, Annabeth,” Percy urged, standing next to Damon “We have less than ten days to do this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine,” Annabeth huffed, reluctantly shaking Damon’s hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Percy sighed in relief “Thank you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They kept sloshing on across mushy ground and through nasty, twisted trees that seemed way creepier than they had just a couple of hours before. Damon looked down at his phone, expertly manoeuvring through the woods with Grover at his side. Behind them, Percy and Annabeth were talking quietly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You haven’t left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?” Percy asked Annabeth in surprise.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She shook her head “No… Only short field trips. My dad -”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The history professor?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. It didn’t work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood is my home.” She was talking so fast, she almost stumbled over her words as if any of the others would stop her from saying what’s on her mind. Damon glanced over his shoulder, studying her expression for a moment before he let out a quiet sigh and moved on “At Camp, you train and train. And that’s cool and everything but the real world is where the monsters are. That’s where you learn whether you’re any good or not.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon scoffed quietly. If anything, the real world was where they got decimated quicker than they could curse their immortal parent for putting them into a situation like that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re pretty good with that knife,” Percy complimented her awkwardly before he turned to look at Damon “I know you’ve been to school with me but do you normally leave Camp?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Damon nodded with a small grin “Trust me, my… my parent would flip if I decided to stay at Camp for good. Not that I would. I kinda like spending what little time they have for me bouncing ideas off each other.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was about to say more when Grover cut him off excitedly “Hey, my reed pipes still work,” he exclaimed “If I could just remember the ‘find path’ song, we could get out of the woods. Although Damon seems to be doing alright.” He puffed a couple of notes and to Damon and Percy’s horror, it sounded suspiciously like Hilary Duff.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon froze when he heard a thud behind him and turned to light the scene behind him with his flashlight. Seemed as if it hadn't been him who ran into the tree “You okay?” he questioned, trying to hold back the laughter at Percy’s face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut up,” he groaned, rubbing his forehead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon snorted “Sorry, sorry.”</span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>They kept walking for another mile or two until they could see the colours of a neon sign up ahead. They could all smell the food but compared to the others, the smell was starting to make Damon sick. While he hadn’t eaten much since he found out about his father, he really just couldn’t. It was like a block in his mind that made him feel sick whenever he tried to eat. He wasn’t sure whether it was getting worse but he was afraid to tell anyone. He was sure Dionysus and Will knew that something was up but apart from that night they hadn’t mentioned it to him again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A couple of minutes later, they saw a deserted two-lane road through the trees. On the other side was a closed down gas station, a tattered billboard for a 90s film and what appeared to be an open business. It wasn’t a fast-food restaurant but one of these weird shops that were usually selling something like lawn flamingos and wooden Indians. The main building was a long, low warehouse surrounded by acres of statuary. The neon sign above the gate was nearly impossible for Damon to read but after a lot of squinting and blinking, he could only barely make out the red cursive neon: ‘Aunty Em’s Garden Gnome Emporium’.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the heck does that day?” Percy frowned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annabeth shrugged helplessly “I don’t know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aunty Em’s Garden Gnome Emporium,” Grover and Damon chorused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The other two demigods looked at Damon in confusion “How did you…?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorta family member,” Damon grimaced “When he found out about the dyslexia, he decided to make my life even more complicated and whenever he wants to speak to me, he summons me with these elaborate fucking notes written in the most unreadable cursive.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He… Sounds like an arse,” Percy mumbled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon smiled wryly “You have no idea.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Flanking the entrance, as advertised, were two cement garden gnomes. Ugly, bearded little runts, smiling and waving as if they were… about to… get their picture taken. Damon stiffened immediately and started looking around more carefully. The whole place looked like something out of a very bad horror movie “Do you sense something here?” Damon whispered into Grover’s ear, trying not to alert the others until he was certain that he was right.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Grover tilted his head “Yeah, something is not right… Hey.” He hurried after Percy and Annabeth who seemed to be gravitating towards the food smell.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The lights are on inside,” Annabeth noted “Maybe it’s open.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Percy sighed wistfully “Snack bar.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Snack bar,” Annabeth agreed dreamily.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon checked his watch with a frown “Why would they be open? It’s four in the morning.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you two crazy?” Grover burst out, staring at Percy and Annabeth in shock “This place is weird. Damon, tell them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon stepped in front of them when they made their way towards the entrance “He’s right, you know. There’s something going…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut up, Damon,” Annabeth growled, pushing past him roughly “You can’t tell us what to do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The others walked after her, before Grover froze, staring at a statue “Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand.” He shook his head and continued on, stopping next to the others “Don’t knock,” he pleaded “I smell monsters.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your nose is clogged up from the Furies,” Annabeth waved him off “All I smell is burgers. Aren’t you hungry?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Meat,” Grover sneered scornfully “I’m a vegetarian.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Percy snorted at him “You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminium cans.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then the door creaked open, revealing a tall Middle Eastern woman. Damon winced, having had a run-in with her some time ago. Thankfully, she didn’t know how he looked but he had watched her with someone, shipping statues to their home. She was wearing a black gown that covered everything but her hands, even her head was veiled. Another point for this being Medusa. Her eyes glinted behind a curtain of black gauze but that was about all he could make out “Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re… um…” Annabeth stuttered, subtly sniffing the air.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before she could make a fool out of herself, Damon cut in, pulling on every trick his dad had taught him over the years “Our ride bailed on us. He was supposed to take us to the nearest station where we were supposed to make our way to Las Vegas.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” Grover nodded enthusiastically and Damon tried hard not to groan. So much for fooling her… </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Percy looked at the two of them weirdly before he smiled at the woman “We’re lost. Is that food I smell?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, my dears,” Medusa cooed maliciously “You must come in, poor children. I am Aunty Em. Go straight through to the back of the warehouse. There is a dining area.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The warehouse was filled with even more statue people in all different poses, different expressions and different clothes. Grover kept whimpering whenever he felt the eyes of the statues move with them. There was the click of a lock behind them and Damon whirled around, a hand on his bracelet, seeing ‘Em’ sending him a smile “Please, sit down,” she gestured. Damon jerked out of the way when she walked behind him and kept his back to the wall. While she was still wearing the veil at the moment, she could take it off at any given moment and he really didn’t fancy being turned into stone. Being a statue didn’t nearly sound as fun as exploding or being turned into a dolphin. He was still sure that living in the ocean would be awesome.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Awesome,” Percy cheered, diving into the food.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um,” Grover spoke up reluctantly “We don’t have any money, ma’am.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Em shook her head “No, no, children. No money. This is a special case, yet? It is my treat, for such nice lost children.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, ma’am,” Annabeth nodded politely, raising her eyes to look at the woman.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Medusa stiffened when she recognised the girl for who she was. When she saw one of the boys watching her closely, she forced herself to relax. He seemed a lot more observant than the other two demigods “Quite alright, Annabeth. You have such beautiful grey eyes, child.” She disappeared behind the snack counter and started cooking. Before they knew it, she brought out plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes and XXL servings of fries.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon grimaced at the smell and went over to stand with Grover by one of the walls “Grover,” he breathed, trying not to draw too much attention to them “We have to get them out of here. Now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He nodded, looking thoughtful “You know. I can’t… Do you know who she is?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Statues, Grover,” he mumbled, trying to get him to make the connection “Looking as if they were turned to…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“... Stone,” Grover breathed, his eyes widening before he put on as calm a face as he could “What’s that hissing noise?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hissing?” Em questioned, a touch of nervousness to her voice “Perhaps you hear the deep-fryer oil. You have keen ears, Grover.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon shot her a look “Okay, that’s enough. Percy, Annabeth, we’re leaving.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t be rude, Damon,” Annabeth scolded “I know that your father is not big on manners but you shouldn’t insult our hostess.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you even hearing yourself? Percy, I’m serious. Let’s go.” He punctuated every word, barely hiding my desperation at their stubbornness “Grover…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Medusa smirked at him triumphantly from behind her veil “No, now, child. Let’s not be hasty. Why don’t you have something to eat?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon crossed his arms when the others didn’t move. Not even Grover “This is ridiculous. Why am I even here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, you sell gnomes,” Percy said, trying and failing to sound interested.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Medusa launched into her story and Damon couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sympathy for her. She hadn’t done anything wrong and was cursed because of a Goddess’ jealousy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>At the end of her story, Percy’s eyes were dropping while Annabeth seemed to have caught on. She shot Damon a quick look before shaking Percy’s shoulder roughly “Percy? Maybe we really should go. I mean, we have a train to catch after all.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Such beautiful grey eyes,” Medusa cooed at Annabeth “My, yes, it has been a long time since I’ve seen grey eyes like those.” She reached out for the girl, causing her to jump back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon grabbed a hold of Percy’s arm, pulling him behind one of the statues as Grover and Annabeth hid with them. He looked over at the dazed boy “Percy, are you back with me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I - I think so,” Percy gasped “What’s going on?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Monster,” he mumbled, hearing the hissing of snakes coming closer to where they were hiding “Close your eyes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Percy frowned at him “Why?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon bit his lip, leaning with his back against a statue with Percy pressed against his side. He glanced over at Percy, mouthing an apology before he raised his voice “Look. I know that you’re angry at Annabeth’s mother – and probably Percy’s dad but we aren’t at fault here. Why should we pay for the sins of our parents?” Damon swallowed, his hand finding Percy’s arm “I also know that this probably doesn’t make you feel any better but… I’m sorry for what happened to you. You didn’t deserve that. No one does.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everything around them froze as if even the birds in the surrounding trees were turned to stone. Damon let Percy grip his hand as he tried to help the other boy calm down which was easier said than done when he was panicking as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re sorry?” Medusa hissed, uncomfortably close to where Damon and Percy were hiding “Why would you be sorry?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon closed his eyes when he felt snakes snapping at his hair and his face “Because I know how it feels to get thrown away. Being abandoned by the person you love is…. It hurts.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You?” Medusa asked, doubt in her voice. From where she was standing the boy was handsome – way too young to be thinking about any of that but if his compassion was anything to go by, he had a good heart. It wasn’t often that a demigod showed compassion… remorse for what happened to her “Who would abandon someone like you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My… My dad was relatively young when he and my father had me. His godfather decided it would be best to get rid of me while there was still time,” Damon told her, swallowing back the hurt he still felt over that “I grew up in an orphanage until I was five.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before Medusa could do much more than tighten her grip on the boy’s chin, Annabeth appeared behind the Gorgon “Damon, now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon jumped up when Medusa turned around, swinging his sword. He took her head off cleanly, sighing when she slowly disintegrated into golden dust “I told you we should have left. Next time, fucking listen to me, alright?” He prodded Medusa’s head with a grimace, seeing the snakes still wriggling around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, yuck,” Grover groaned when the head gurgled and steamed as the tiny snakes died “Mega yuck.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annabeth took a deep breath “Thank you, Damon.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon nodded in acknowledgement before shooting her a teasing smirk “How much did that hurt?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut up,” Annabeth huffed, a glint of amusement in her eyes. Maybe not all was lost between them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why… Why didn’t the head evaporate?” Percy questioned quietly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Once you sever it, it becomes a spoil of war,” Annabeth explained “Same as the Minotaur horn. Don’t look her into the eyes. It can still petrify you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon flopped down onto one of the chairs in the dining area, putting his head down. He was exhausted all of a sudden and felt as if he could sleep for years. On the edge of his consciousness, he could hear Percy flitting around the room before he wrapped the head in plastic. Damon blinked a couple of times, trying to push back the exhaustion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you okay?” Grover asked quietly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon rubbed his eyes tiredly and nodded “Sorry.” He looked around in confusion “Where did the head go?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Percy grinned wickedly “I sent it to Olympus.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You what?” Damon choked in surprise before he let out a laugh “Gods, Perce. You’re going to make enemies of them if you continue like that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You disagree?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Damon raised his eyebrows “Not at all. I like your style.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annabeth sighed, completely resigned with the fact that Percy had a major talent for ticking off the Gods and she already knew that Damon wasn’t much better “Come one,” she muttered finally “We need to see about getting to that train station.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is the rewrite of a rewrite. I have managed to plan this out more and from what I can tell now it's gonna be a relatively long series (depending on my motivation and everything). I hope you'll enjoy this and... Yeah! Thanks for reading.</p><p>Nick</p></blockquote></div></div>
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